吵嘴
chǎo zuǐ · HSK 7
to quarrel
🗣️😤 chǎo zuǐ = noisy + mouth — two mouths making noise = a quarrel
Both characters share the mouth radical 口. 吵 means noisy or to argue, 嘴 means mouth. Put them together: noisy mouths, i.e. a verbal fight.
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.'
嘴 — mouth 口 + 此 (phonetic) + 角 (horn)
嘴 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 口 (mouth) component gives the meaning, while 觜 (originally 'beak/horn-tip', combining 此 and 角) supplies the sound. It first meant a bird's beak, then broadened to mean mouth, and by extension the spout or tip of any object.