说闲话
shuōxiánhuà · HSK 7
gossip
🗣️ 说 speak + 闲 idle + 话 words = speaking idle words = gossip
说 is speak/talk, 闲 means idle or free-time, and 话 is words or speech. Talking idle words about others is exactly gossip.
说 — speech radical 讠(言) + 兑
说 combines the speech radical 讠(言, 'words') with 兑, which acts as the phonetic component. The character originally meant 'to explain' or 'to speak,' and broadened to mean 'say' or 'talk.' The same graph is also read 'yuè' meaning 'pleased,' a sense later written 悦.
闲 — gate 門 + tree 木
Originally depicts a tree or wooden bar placed within a gate (門), suggesting a barrier or enclosure. The simplified form 闲 keeps 木 inside 门. Meaning extended from 'barrier/fence' to 'enclosed space,' then to 'leisure' or 'idle' — being free from work, as if shut away at rest.
话 — speech radical 讠 (言) + tongue 舌
话 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (simplified from 言, 'speech') gives the meaning, signaling something said, while 舌 ('tongue') hints at the sound and reinforces the speaking sense. The traditional form 話 makes the 言 element explicit; today 话 means 'speech, talk, words.'