How to Write 聒 (guā) — Meaning “noisy; clamorous”

Imagine a tongue (舌) speaking loudly right next to an ear (耳) – the sound is so noisy it‘s annoying. The picture of a tongue directly hitting the ear helps you recall that 聒 means noisy or clamorous.

The left radical 耳 should be narrower and slightly taller than the right part 舌. Make sure the horizontal strokes of 舌 are evenly spaced and do not cross into the ear portion. A common mistake is making the 耳 too wide, unbalancing the character.

耸 (sǒng) means "to rise" or "to alarm" and uses 耳 with 从, while 耻 (chǐ) means "shame" and uses 耳 with 止. Unlike 聒, which means noisy, both 耸 and 耻 have no connection to loud sounds – 耸 is about height or fear, and 耻 about disgrace.

聒 appears mainly in formal or literary descriptions of annoying noise, such as 聒噪 (guā zào) for noisy chatter or 聒耳 (guā ěr) for sounds that grate on the ears. It is not common in everyday conversation but may be found in classical-style writing or to describe exceptionally irritating noise.

Common words containing 聒 include: 聒噪 (guā zào) — noisy; annoying; clamorous; 聒耳 (guā ěr) — grating on the ears; noisy; 聒吵 (guā chǎo) — noisy; clamorous.