How to Write 喁 (yóng) — Meaning “sound of breathing; fish gasping”

Imagine a fish (禺) opening its mouth (口) wide as it gasps for air on a riverbank. This visual picture directly connects to the meaning of "fish gasping" or the sound of breathing. The mouth radical is a strong clue that 喁 is related to a sound made by the mouth.

Start by writing the left radical 口 as a small square, then add the right part 禺 which has 9 strokes. Pay attention to the middle horizontal lines in 禺 and make sure the final hook is clear. A common mistake is making the 口 too large or uneven, which unbalances the whole character.

哥 (gē) means "older brother" and is built by stacking two 可 components — it has nothing to do with mouth sounds or breathing. 㕡 is an extremely rare character with no clear modern meaning, while 喁 specifically describes whispering or gasping. Visually, 喁 has a mouth on the left, whereas 哥 uses repeated 可 and 㕡 looks different.

喁 is not common in daily speech but appears in literary and formal Chinese, especially in the doubled form 喁喁 (yóng yóng) meaning "whispering" or "murmuring." Common phrases include 喁喁私语 (to whisper secretly to each other) and 喁喁细语 (soft whispering). The original meaning "fish gasping" is now mostly found in classical texts.

Common words containing 喁 include: 喁喁 (yóng yóng) — whispering; 喁喁私语 (yóng yóng sī yǔ) — to whisper to each other; 喁喁细语 (yóng yóng xì yǔ) — soft whispering.