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饶舌 (ráo shé) — loquacious, talkative; to say too much

Definition

Adjective meaning 'loquacious' — describes someone who talks too much, often saying more than is proper. Implies a mildly negative judgment (excessive, not just chatty), unlike neutral 话多.

adjective
loquacioustalkativeto say too much

Examples

  • 饶舌，。
    Tā zhè ge rén hěn ráo shé, yì kāi kǒu jiù tíng bú xià lái.
    He is very talkative; once he starts talking he can't stop.
  • 饶舌，。
    Bié ráo shé le, kuài shuō zhòng diǎn.
    Stop rambling and get to the point.
  • 饶舌。
    Tā ráo shé de xìng gé ràng tóng shì yǒu diǎn fán.
    Her talkative personality annoys her colleagues a bit.

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.

饶ráoexcessive
舌shétongue

饶 carries the sense of excessive, and 舌 stands for speech, so it means talking too much.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 饒; 饶 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
食食shífood
Sound part声符shēngfú
堯
堯yáo饒ráo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 饒 uses 食 (food) for meaning and 堯 for sound; the simplified 饶 is a later shorthand.

Open 饶 →

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

舌 was drawn as a snake's forked tongue rising from an open mouth.

Open 舌 →
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