How to Write 哓 (xiāo) — Meaning “To argue / To clamor”

Imagine a person (口) standing on a tall mountain (尧), shouting loudly to argue with someone far below. The tall part reminds you of 尧's 'high' meaning, and the mouth shows it's about loud talking.

The left radical 口 should be written narrow and slightly higher than the right side. A common mistake is making the right part 尧 too wide; keep the four strokes of 尧 compact. The total 9 strokes follow the order: mouth first, then the left-falling stroke of 尧, followed by the horizontal, two horizontals, and finally the curved hook stroke.

哓 (xiāo) has the mouth radical and means 'to argue loudly,' while 君 (jūn) has the same radical but means 'ruler' or 'lord,' and the bottom part is 尹 not 尧. 吝 (lìn) has the mouth above 文 and means 'stingy' or 'grudging,' with no relation to loud arguing. Visually, 哓 has the distinctive 尧 component on the right, unlike 君 and 吝.

哓 is rare in daily speech and mainly appears in formal or literary contexts, often in the reduplicated form 哓哓 (xiāo xiāo) to describe continuous arguing or clamoring. It can also be used in phrases like 哓舌 (xiāo shé, 'to chatter') to criticize someone talking too much. Because it is not in the HSK vocabulary, most learners will encounter it only in classical or specialized texts.

Common words containing 哓 include: 哓哓 (xiāo xiāo) — Clamorous / Arguing; 哓舌 (xiāo shé) — To chatter / To argue; 晓哓 (xiǎo xiāo) — to argue; to talk incessantly.