鸦雀无声 (yā què wú shēng) — dead silence; not a sound to be heard

Definition

A literary idiom for absolute, dramatic silence — a whole room or crowd going quiet, not just one person. 一声不吭 describes one person staying silent; 鸦雀无声 describes an entire scene.

phrase

dead silencenot a sound to be heard

Examples

，鸦雀无声。
Lǎo shī yì zǒu jìn jiào shì, jiào shì lǐ lì kè yā què wú shēng.
As soon as the teacher walked into the classroom, it fell dead silent.
，鸦雀无声，。
Xuān bù huò jiǎng míng dān shí, quán chǎng yā què wú shēng, měi gè rén dōu zài jǐn zhāng dì tīng.
When the award list was announced, the whole venue was dead silent; everyone was listening nervously.
，鸦雀无声，。
Zhè ge mì mì yí bèi shuō chū, huì chǎng shàng shùn jiān yā què wú shēng, méi rén gǎn shuō huà.
As soon as the secret was revealed, the meeting hall instantly fell silent — no one dared to speak.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

鸦雀birds

鸦yācrow雀quèsparrow

联合Coordinate

无声no sound

无wúwithout声shēngsound

动宾Verb + object

鸦雀 names birds and 无声 says they make no sound, giving absolute silence.

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 鴉; 鸦 is its simplified writing.

牙鳥鴉

Meaning part形符xíngfú

鳥鳥niǎobird

Sound part声符shēngfú

牙

牙yá鴉yā

Same sound today

The traditional form 鴉 pairs 牙 as a sound part with 鳥, meaning bird; the simplified 鸦 is a later abbreviation and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 鸦 →

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

小隹雀

小小xiǎosmall
隹隹zhuībird

雀 combines 小 (small) and 隹 (bird), showing a small bird, a sparrow.

Open 雀 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

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 聲; 声 is its simplified writing.

殸耳聲

Meaning part形符xíngfú

耳耳ěrear

Sound part声符shēngfú

殸

殸qìng聲shēng

Same sound today

The traditional form 聲 pairs 耳 (ear) with 殸 as a sound part; the simplified 声 is a shorthand and does not show those original parts.

Open 声 →