听

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 听 (tīng) for "to listen" is composed of two parts: the radical 耳 (ěr) for "ear" and the phonetic component 呈 (chéng). The radical 耳 indicates the semantic meaning of the character, while the phonetic component 呈 provides a clue to its pronunciation.The original form of 听 was 聽, which was first used in oracle bone script during the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE). In this early form, the character was composed of the radical 耳 and the phonetic component 呈, which was itself a combination of the characters 日 (rì) for "sun" and 呈 (chéng) for "to present." The combination of these two characters suggests that the original meaning of 听 was "to receive the sun," which was later extended to mean "to listen."Over time, the character 聽 was simplified to 听, which is the form that is used today. The character 听 is still pronounced tīng, which is similar to the pronunciation of the phonetic component 呈.The character 听 is used in a variety of words and phrases related to listening, such as 听音乐 (tīng yīnyuè) "to listen to music," 听课 (tīng kè) "to attend a class," and 听话 (tīnghuà) "to obey." It is also used in the names of some musical instruments, such as the 听筒 (tīngtǒng) "earphone" and the 听诊器 (tīngzhěn qì) "stethoscope."