嘀嗒 (dī dā) — (onomatopoeia) tick-tock; sound of a clock or d…

Definition

Onomatopoeia for a regular ticking or dripping sound (a clock, a tap, raindrops). The character is often reduplicated or used as ∼声.

onomatopoeia

tick-tocksound of a clock or dripping water

嘀嗒。
Qiáng shàng de zhōng fā chū dī dā de shēng yīn.
The clock on the wall makes a tick-tock sound.
嘀嗒。
Shuǐ lóng tóu yì zhí dī dā dì dī shuǐ.
The faucet keeps dripping with a tick-tock sound.
，嘀嗒。
Yè shēn le, zhǐ yǒu dī dā de zhōng shēng péi bàn zhe wǒ.
The night is deep; only the tick-tock of the clock keeps me company.

Characters in this word

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

口啇嘀

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

啇

啇dí嘀

Same sound today

嘀 uses 口 (mouth) to show it is related to the mouth, and 啇 to give the sound dí.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.