大嗓门 (dà sǎng mén) — loud voice; loudmouth (person with a loud voice) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A colloquial noun for a loud voice — and, by extension, a loudmouth (a person who talks loudly). Used in everyday speech; more informal and physical than written descriptions of loudness.

noun

loud voiceloudmouth (person with a loud voice)

Examples

大嗓门。
Tā de dà sǎng mén zài zǒu láng lǐ dōu néng tīng jiàn.
His loud voice can be heard even in the hallway.
大嗓门，。
Nà ge dà sǎng mén yí jìn lái, quán wū zi dōu ān jìng le.
That loudmouth came in and the whole room fell silent.
，。
Nǐ bié nà me dà dà sǎng mén, chǎo dào lín jū le.
Don't be so loud, you're disturbing the neighbors.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

大dàbig/loud

嗓门voice

嗓sǎngvoice门ménsuffix

后缀Suffix

大 (big/loud) describes 嗓门 (voice), giving a loud voice or a loudmouth.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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

口桑嗓

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

桑

桑sāng嗓sǎng

Same sound today

嗓 pairs 口 (mouth) with 桑 (sāng), which gives the character its sound.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 門; 门 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 門 pictures a gate as two door shapes side by side; the simplified 门 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

Communication & Speech

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