How to Write 喑 (yīn) — Meaning “mute / silent”

Imagine a mouth (口) that tries to make a sound (音) but produces no noise — it is mute. You can also picture the sound symbol 音 inside a speech bubble that has a crossed-out line, meaning no sound comes out.

Write the left radical 口 first with three strokes, keeping it small and positioned in the upper-left area. The right part 音 begins with a dot on top, then a horizontal stroke, a vertical stroke, and a 日 (sun) shape below; a common mistake is making the left 口 too large or too low, which unbalances the character.

喑 has a mouth radical on the left and the sound component 音 on the right, while 哥 (elder brother) is two 可 stacked vertically. 喑 means mute or silent, whereas 哥 means brother. The character 㕡 is very rare and not in common use, so focus on distinguishing 喑 from 哥 by their shapes and meanings.

喑 is a literary or formal character, not used in everyday conversation. It appears in words like 喑哑 (hoarse voice) and 喑默 (silent), and in classical poetry such as 喑呜 (to sob or wail). Learning it helps with reading older texts or more refined Chinese writing.

Common words containing 喑 include: 喑哑 (yīn yǎ) — hoarse / mute; 喑默 (yīn mò) — silent; 喑呜 (yīn wū) — to sob / to wail.