口语
koǔ yǔ · HSK 4
spoken language
💬 口语 = mouth + language
口 (kǒu) means mouth; 语 (yǔ) means language or speech. Together: the language of the mouth — i.e. spoken/colloquial speech, as opposed to written 书面语.
口 — pictograph of an open mouth
口 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally drawn as a simple outline of an open mouth. Its core meaning 'mouth' extended naturally to 'opening' or 'entrance', as in 入口 (entrance). It also serves as a common radical in characters related to speech, eating, or apertures.