How to Write 嗒 (dā/tà) — Meaning “Clicking sound; dejected”

Imagine the left side 口 as a clock face, and the right side 荅 as the hands ticking. The two dots on top of 荅 can look like drops of water, helping you recall that 嗒 appears in 滴嗒 (dī dā, tick-tock or drip-drop). This connects the visual shape to a common sound word.

The left part 口 is small and sits high, not stretching the full height. The right part 荅 has two dots above (⺮) and a horizontal line below them, then 合; make sure the dots are separate, not connected to the line. A common mistake is making the left 口 too large or misaligning the right component's top strokes.

㕡 (no pinyin given) is extremely rare and differs structurally; 嗒 has 口 on the left, while 㕡 has 口 inside a complex shape. 哥 (gē, elder brother) has two 可 stacked, with no 荅 part. Unlike 嗒 (a sound word), 哥 is a kinship term and is symmetrical, while 嗒 leans to the left.

嗒 is most common in onomatopoeic words like 滴嗒 (dī dā, tick-tock or drip-drop) for clocks or rain, and 嗒嗒 (dā dā) for repeated tapping sounds. It can also mean 'dejected' in the word 嗒然 (tà rán, despondent), but this usage is literary and less frequent in everyday speech.

Common words containing 嗒 include: 滴嗒 (dī dā) — tick-tock; drip-drop; 嗒嗒 (dā dā) — Tapping or clicking sound; 嗒然 (tà rán) — Dejected; despondent.