唠

嘮

láo, lào

劳 + 口

Definitions

láo (verb) to chat; to gossip

lào (verb) to chat; to gossip (dialect)

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 劳 represents the sound. Simplified form of 嘮.

Semantic: 口 Phonetic: 劳

About

唠 is the simplified form of 嘮, a phono-semantic compound. The left-side component 口 indicates the meaning of mouth or speech, while the right-side component 劳 (simplified from 勞) provides the sound. It refers to chattering, gossiping, or engaging in prolonged, casual talk about everyday trivialities. The character is especially common in colloquial Northeastern Chinese, where it often describes friends or neighbours chatting idly to pass the time.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

他总爱唠唠叨叨。

Tā zǒng ài lāolāodāodāo.

He always loves to chatter incessantly.

妈妈唠叨我房间太乱。

Māmā lāodao wǒ fángjiān tài luàn.

Mom nagged me about my room being too messy.

老人们喜欢在一起唠嗑。

Lǎorénmen xǐhuān zài yīqǐ làokē.

Old folks like to chat together.

咱们有空再好好唠唠。

Zánmen yǒu kòng zài hǎohāo làolao.

Let's have a good chat when we have time.

她和我唠了唠工作的烦恼。

Tā hé wǒ lào le lào gōngzuò de fánnǎo.

She and I chatted about the troubles at work.

别唠叨了，我这就去做。

Bié lāodao le, wǒ zhè jiù qù zuò.

Stop nagging, I'll go and do it right now.

他跟我足足唠了两个小时。

Tā gēn wǒ zúzú lào le liǎng gè xiǎoshí.

He chatted with me for a full two hours.

几个邻居正在楼下唠家常呢。

Jǐ gè línjū zhèngzài lóuxià lào jiācháng ne.

Several neighbors are downstairs chatting about everyday things.

Related Characters

Component: 劳

Component: 口

唠