唏嘘
xī​xū

sigh

唏 xī, xiè weep or sob

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 希 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
希
希 Sound component
xī hope

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhanghlɯlʔ
hlɯls
Unicodexiə̌i
xiə̀i

說文解字

笑也。从口，稀省聲。一曰哀痛不泣曰唏。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

嘘 xū exhale Simplified

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

mouth

虚
虚 Sound component
xū void, false

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

噓 xū exhale Traditional

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

mouth

虛
虛 Sound component
xū void, false

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqʰa
qʰas
Unicodexiu
xiù

說文解字

吹也。从口虛聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)