The word 啜泣 is formed by combining the character 啜, meaning to sob or sip, which uses the mouth radical 口 to indicate a mouth-related action and the component 叕 for phonetic suggestion, with the character 泣, meaning to weep, which uses the water radical 氵 to represent tears and the component 立 for phonetic suggestion; together they denote the act of sobbing or crying quietly, with each character contributing semantically to the overall meaning.