shēng yīn
sound
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我听到一个声音。
wǒ tīng dào yī gè shēng yīn.
I heard a sound.
声音很吵。
shēng yīn hěn chǎo.
The sound is very noisy.
我听不清你的声音。
wǒ tīng bù qīng nǐ de shēng yīn.
I can't hear you clearly.
寂静 (jìjìng)
silence
无声 (wúshēng)
noiseless
The Chinese word 声音 (shēngyīn) for "sound" is composed of two characters: 声 (shēng) and 音 (yīn). The character 声 originally meant "sound of thunder" and was later extended to mean "sound" in general. It is composed of the radical 言 (yán), which indicates that it is related to speech or language, and the phonetic component 青 (qīng), which gives it its pronunciation. The character 音 originally meant "musical sound" and was later extended to mean "sound" in general. It is composed of the radical 口 (kǒu), which indicates that it is related to the mouth, and the phonetic component 尹 (yǐn), which gives it its pronunciation. Together, the two characters 声 and 音 form the word 声音, which means "sound".
