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多嘴 (duō zuǐ) — to speak out of turn, to blurt out something inappropriate

Definition

Verb meaning to speak out of turn or blurt out something inappropriate — usually a warning or criticism about unwanted words. The second 嘴 is a bound noun meaning 'mouth'; reduplicating with 多 gives a verb-object phrase (离合词).

verb
to speak out of turn, to blurt out something inappropriate

Examples

  • 多嘴，。
    Tā zài huì shàng duō zuǐ, dé zuì le hěn duō rén.
    He spoke out of turn at the meeting and offended many people.
  • 多嘴，。
    Nǐ duō zuǐ le, zhè jiàn shì bù gāi shuō chū lái.
    You blurted that out — this matter shouldn't have been said.
  • 。
    Tā zhī duō le yí cì zuǐ jiù bèi gǎn chū qù le.
    He only blurted out once and was kicked out.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

多duōtoo much
嘴zuǐmouth

“多” gives the sense of too much and “嘴” is mouth, so talking too much.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

多 originally showed two pieces of meat placed together; the repeated meat shape gives the sense of many.

Open 多 →

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kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
觜
觜zī嘴
Same sound today

嘴 pairs 口 (mouth) with 觜, which supplies its sound.

Open 嘴 →
Appears in
Communication & SpeechPersonality & Traits

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