响声
xiǎng shēng · HSK 6
noise
🔊 响声 = echo/resound + sound — a sound loud enough to resound
响 (xiǎng) means to sound or echo, 声 (shēng) means sound or voice. Together they double down: a noise is a sound that makes itself heard, reverberating outward.
响 — mouth 口 + village/hometown 乡
Originally written 響, combining 鄉 (village, phonetic) with 音 (sound), suggesting sound echoing through a hometown valley. The simplified form 响 replaces 音 with 口 (mouth) as a semantic hint and 乡 as the phonetic. It means sound, echo, or to make noise.
声 — 士 scholar/warrior on top + 尸-like form + components (simplified from 聲)
声 is the simplified form of 聲, which originally depicted a hanging stone chime (殸) being struck, with 耳 'ear' below to show hearing. The full form combined the sound-making instrument and the act of listening, meaning 'sound' or 'voice'. The modern simplified 声 keeps only the upper portion.