脱口而出
tuō koǔ ér chū · HSK 7
to blurt out
🗣️💬 脱(escape) + 口(mouth) + 而出(come out) = words escape the mouth = blurt out
脱 — flesh radical 月 (肉) + 兑 tuì (phonetic)
脱 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The flesh radical 月 (from 肉) signals the body, while 兑 supplies the sound. Originally it meant shedding flesh or skin, like a snake molting, and broadened to mean 'to take off, slip off, or escape.'
口 — pictograph of an open mouth
口 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally drawn as a simple outline of an open mouth. Its core meaning 'mouth' extended naturally to 'opening' or 'entrance', as in 入口 (entrance). It also serves as a common radical in characters related to speech, eating, or apertures.
而 — pictograph of beard/whiskers hanging from chin
Originally a pictograph of a beard or facial hair hanging below the chin, visible clearly in oracle bone and bronze script forms. The beard meaning was lost early, and the character was borrowed phonetically to write the grammatical conjunction 'and/but/yet'. This connective use has been standard since classical Chinese.
出 — foot 止 emerging from enclosure 凵
出 is a pictograph showing a foot or plant stepping out of a hollow or enclosure, depicting the act of going forth. The original sense of 'coming out' or 'emerging' has remained stable since oracle bone script. It now broadly means 'to exit, go out, or produce.'