喘息
chuǎn xī · HSK 7
to take a breather
😮💨 喘 = mouth + tongue breathing hard, 息 = nose + heart at rest
First character 喘 has mouth radical (口) showing heavy panting. Second character 息 combines self/nose (自) over heart (心) — when your heart and breathing calm down, you rest. Together: gasping, then catching your breath.
喘 — mouth 口 + 而 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 口 (mouth) gives the meaning, since panting and gasping happen through the mouth, while 而 supplies the sound. Originally meaning to breathe heavily or pant, it later extended to asthma and labored breathing in medical contexts.