怨言
yuàn yán · HSK 7
complaint
💬 怨 resentment + 言 words = grievance-words spoken aloud = a complaint
怨 carries the sense of blame or grudge, and 言 means speech or words. Stack them and you get spoken words of grievance: yuàn yán, a complaint.
怨 — 夗 (phonetic) + 心 (heart)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the heart radical 心 supplies the meaning (an emotion) while 夗 gives the sound. The original sense was a deep grudge or resentment held in the heart, and the modern meanings 'to resent, blame, complain' all extend from that core feeling.