嗽 (sòu) — cough (bound morpheme, used only in the compound 咳嗽)

Definition

嗽 (sòu) is a bound morpheme that only appears as the second half of 咳嗽 (cough). It has no independent meaning on its own.

bound form
cough (bound morpheme, used only in the compound 咳嗽)
Easily confused

Examples

  • ？
    Nǐ zuì jìn shì bu shì yǒu ké sòu?
    Have you had a cough recently?
  • 。
    Tā ké sòu dé hěn lì hài.
    He has a really bad cough.
  • 。
    Yī shēng gěi wǒ kāi le zhì ké sòu de yào.
    The doctor prescribed me medicine for the cough.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
欶
欶shuò嗽sòu
Same sound today

The left side 口 shows the mouth, and the right side 欶 points to the sound.

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