争吵
zhēngchǎo · HSK 7
quarrel
🗣️ 争 contend + 吵 noisy (口 mouth radical) = a noisy contest of words = quarrel
争 means to contend or fight over something; 吵 carries the 口 mouth radical and means noisy or to make a racket. Put them together and two loud mouths are contending = a quarrel. The sound zhēngchǎo even rasps like raised voices.
争 — hand 爫 (claw) over hand 又 pulling 亅
争 depicts two hands grabbing the same object from above and below, with a vertical stroke representing the contested item between them. The image of two parties tugging at one thing gave rise to its meanings of 'to contend,' 'to fight for,' or 'to dispute.' The modern simplified form streamlines the older 爭.
吵 — mouth 口 + few/small 少
吵 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The mouth radical 口 signals meaning related to speech or sound, while 少 (shǎo) provides the phonetic cue. Together they suggest noisy chatter, hence the modern senses 'noisy,' 'to quarrel,' or 'to disturb.'