沸沸扬扬
fèi fèi yáng yáng · HSK 7
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🫧🗣️ fei fei = boiling x2, yang yang = rising x2 — gossip boils over and rises everywhere
Water (氵) boils (沸) twice, then flies upward (扬) twice. Think of a pot boiling over — the noise and steam spreading in every direction, like rumors buzzing through a crowd.
扬 — hand radical 扌 + 昜 (rising sun)
扬 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning (an action done with the hand), while 昜 (sun rising over the horizon) supplies the sound 'yáng'. The original sense was to raise or lift up, which broadened to 'spread, scatter, make known'. The modern simplified form replaces the older 揚.
扬 — hand radical 扌 + 昜 (rising sun)
扬 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning (an action done with the hand), while 昜 (sun rising over the horizon) supplies the sound 'yáng'. The original sense was to raise or lift up, which broadened to 'spread, scatter, make known'. The modern simplified form replaces the older 揚.