咋
zhā
#2,824 most
frequent character
used in 咋呼[zha1hu5], Taiwan pr. [ze2]
Character breakdown
Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
咋 has 口 mouth as its meaning part and 乍 zhà as a sound part. It first meant a loud sound. That grew to a shout, and then to suddenly. Read zǎ, it means how or why, borrowed only for its sound; read zé, it means to bite or gnaw, also borrowed for its sound.
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