自言自语
zì yán zì yǔ · HSK 6
to talk to oneself
🗣️ self-words-self-language: you ARE both speaker and audience
Each 自 means self. 言 is words/speech, 语 is language/talk. So it literally reads self-speak-self-talk — a perfectly redundant loop where you supply both sides of the conversation.
自 — pictograph of a nose
自 originally depicted a human nose, shown frontally with the bridge and nostrils. Ancient Chinese pointed to their own nose to mean 'me,' so 自 shifted to mean 'self' or 'oneself.' A new character 鼻 was later created to carry the original 'nose' meaning.
自 — pictograph of a nose
自 originally depicted a human nose, shown frontally with the bridge and nostrils. Ancient Chinese pointed to their own nose to mean 'me,' so 自 shifted to mean 'self' or 'oneself.' A new character 鼻 was later created to carry the original 'nose' meaning.