3

I met the word 唰 shua1 in a Xi Yang Yang book as the sound 唰唰 one character makes while eating. Two sources agree it is "onomat. quick slick up." I don't know the English "quick slick up." Google translate makes a plausible but unclear suggestion of shabu shabu for 唰唰.

What is this word?

Here is the context. Lazy lamb is enjoying a snack. The panel caption tells us this is outside of the sheep village school, with a light breeze blowing (羊村“教室外,风儿轻轻吹过).

L

9
  • The sound of swoosh as in 鳥兒唰地一下飛了過去 (That bird swooshes through).
    – George
    Aug 21, 2013 at 3:48
  • Seriously, I don't know whether it's proper to learn Chinese from Xi Yang Yang books, as they're written for very very young children.
    – Stan
    Aug 21, 2013 at 7:42
  • Show us the original text or photo, so we can discuss more out of it.
    – George
    Aug 21, 2013 at 14:13
  • @Stan Have you looked at them? I was expecting simple vocabulary, as found in say French or Italian children's books which I enjoyed when i began reading those languages. But these books are written to be read to children and not by them. Seeing Growler's answer I find this use of 唰 very sophisticated, cleverly relying on the mouth radical, and not a child-level character. Aug 22, 2013 at 14:55
  • @ColinMcLarty That's easy, click "edit", then click the sixth (beginning from the left) icon on the tool bar, shaped like a photo, a window pops up, chose "From my computer" -> "Choose File" -> "Add picture". System will generate a link for the uploaded image and cite it similar to a webpage link.
    – George
    Aug 22, 2013 at 15:17

2 Answers 2

3

baike.com describes it as "swiftly" or "swish"... I believe it is indeed onomatopoeia.

唰 <形> - Adverb

形容迅速的样子 【swiftly】。如:唰地一下跳上墙;唰溜溜(形容极其迅速);唰啦(形容迅疾)

Describes "swiftly" or "quickly" doing something. Like to "swiftly" jump on the wall.

唰 <象> - Adjective for sound

形容迅速擦过去的声音 【swish】。如:唰唰;唰喇喇

Or describes a sound, to "swish" by something.

4
  • So it is the sound lazy lamb makes as his snacks swiftly swish through his mouth. Aug 20, 2013 at 21:10
  • @ColinMcLarty haha yes I suppose so
    – user3871
    Aug 20, 2013 at 21:11
  • 2
    @ColinMcLarty FYI, "shabu shabu" means "swish swish" in Japanese (and, by extension, a type of dish) Aug 20, 2013 at 22:26
  • 1
    @StumpyJoePete kind of reach, but maybe Ocarina of time's Jabu Jabu (es.zelda.wikia.com/wiki/En_la_Tripa_de_Jabu-Jabu) is an extension of Shabu Shabu? :D
    – user3871
    Aug 20, 2013 at 22:44
3

唰者 亦「𠴪」之正體也

唰 is considered as the standard for its variant 「𠴪」

  • 廣韻.入聲.薛韻 謂之曰 「𠴪 鳥理毛也 所劣切」 From a dictionary, '𠴪 is the act of a bird combing through her feather, consonant following 所, vowel following 劣'.

  • 集韻.入聲.薛韻 謂之曰 「唰 鳥治毛也」 Another dictionary puts it this way: '唰 is the act of a bird combing through her feather'.

  • 字彙.口部 謂之曰 「唰 所劣切 音刷 鳥理毛也 𠴪 同上」 Yet another dictionary shows that '唰 consonant following 所, vowel following 劣, sounded as 刷, is the act of a bird combing through her feather. 𠴪 ditto'.

  • 正字通.口部 謂之曰 「𠴪 同唰」 And another dictionary tells that '𠴪 is same as 唰'.

  • 康熙字典.口部 謂之曰 「𠴪 廣韻所劣切 音刷 鳥理毛也 按 廣韻有「𠴪」無「唰」 玉篇 集韻 類篇有「唰」無「𠴪」 實即一字 譌分為二」 This famous dictionary also says something about it: '𠴪 as shown in 廣韻, is the act of a bird combing through her feather, consonant following 所, vowel following 劣, sounded as 刷, editor's note: in 廣韻 there is an entry for 𠴪 but not 唰; while in anyone of these 玉篇, 集韻, 類篇 唰 has an entry but 𠴪 does not. Thus these two are indeed one characters, somehow split into two versions.' Scanned page of 康熙字典.同文書局版.口部.唰𠴪二字.口部:

康熙字典之同文書局版口部唰𠴪二字


Reference

台灣教育部異體字字典 (Ministry of Education, Taiwan)


盼諸君賜教

Please leave comment when you have questions.

7
  • 1
    𠴪, UTF encoding: U+20D2A. Is this character unable to render properly on your PC? BTW, comprehensive answer +1. But I don't think it's necessary to post the whole page of 康熙字典, you can simply leave a link to that source.
    – Stan
    Aug 21, 2013 at 16:02
  • Thanks for 𠴪's encoding! Just wanna give a image without any website link on it. 有圖有真相嘛 哈哈
    – George
    Aug 21, 2013 at 16:15
  • What does it mean to say "consonant following 所, vowel following 劣"? Aug 22, 2013 at 2:10
  • 1
    @ColinMcLarty, in today's system, it can be seen as s (所 suo) + ie (劣 lie) = sie (extinct already), somehow it evolves into 數滑切 sh (shu 數) + ua (hua 滑)= shua
    – George
    Aug 22, 2013 at 2:25
  • I had not seen such decomposition of characters into vowel and consonant. What is a good reference for it? Aug 22, 2013 at 14:46

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.