About
The character 闻, in its traditional form 聞, structurally combines the component for "ear" (耳) beneath a representation of a "gate" (門), creating an ideographic construct that originally depicted the act of listening at a gate, an apt metaphor for hearing news or information from outside. Its core meaning was firmly auditory, centered on the act of hearing, yet over time this sensory focus expanded metaphorically to encompass the acquisition of knowledge, as in being well-informed. This semantic breadth was further extended in classical usage, where the character was occasionally borrowed to represent the sense of smell, a meaning later distinguished with the addition of a mouth radical to create the character 嗅. The modern simplified form discarded the internal "ear" entirely, reducing the gate to 门 and inserting the component 耳, thus preserving a phonetic hint while significantly altering the original pictographic logic and severing the direct visual link to its auditory origins.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
新闻很有趣。
我闻到花香。
你闻过这种味道吗？
他闻名于全国。
我每天看新闻。
闻到怪味，他检查了厨房。
新闻报导了这次重要事件。
从未闻过如此美妙的气味。