谐 (xié) — harmonious; in harmony; humor (bound morpheme,…

Definition

Bound morpheme meaning 'harmonious' or 'humorous' — it never stands alone and only appears in compounds like 和谐 (harmony) and 诙谐 (witty).

bound form

harmoniousin harmonyhumor (bound morpheme, used in compounds)

谐。
Zhōng guó chuán tǒng wén huà fēi cháng qiáng diào jiā tíng xié hé.
Traditional Chinese culture places a strong emphasis on family harmony.
，。
Zhè ge xiào hua lì yòng le xié yīn de xiào guǒ, hěn yǒu qù.
This joke uses the effect of homophony and is very funny.
谐谑。
Zhǔ chí rén yōu mò xié xuè de jiǎng huà ràng quán chǎng dà xiào.
The host's witty and humorous remarks made the whole audience laugh.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 諧; 谐 is its simplified writing.

言皆諧

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánspeech

Sound part声符shēngfú

皆

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 諧 combines 言, meaning speech, with 皆 as a sound part; the simplified 谐 is a later abbreviation.

Appears in