音

contributes the sense of sound · Kangxi radical 180

contributes the sense of sound, tone and voice, and often just supplies an ān/yīn/yùn sound to the character

音 started out as the same picture as 言 'speech': an open mouth with a tongue or a mouthpiece sticking up out of it. To split 'sound' off from 'speaking', scribes put an extra mark inside the mouth, and that filled mouth hardened into the 日 at the bottom while the tongue above straightened into 立. So in the modern shape you can read 立 as the tongue or reed rising from the 日 mouth below. In 意 the sound sits over a heart (what you mean, not just what you say), in 韵 it pairs with 匀 for the rhyming part of a syllable, while in 暗, 黯, 谙, 喑 and 揞 it is mostly there for its pronunciation.

音 at a glance

Meaning

contributes the sense of sound

Strokes

9

Characters

16

Role

Usually contributes sound

Kangxi radical

180

Characters with 音 (13 of 16)

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