About
The character 虖 (hū) is a phono-semantic compound that serves as both a verb and a grammatical particle. Its structure combines the semantic radical 虍 (tiger) on the top and left with the phonetic component 乎 (hū) on the bottom right, which supplies its pronunciation. The original meaning, tiger's roar, shout, or forceful exhalation, directly reflects the tiger radical's association with powerful vocalization. In classical texts, 虖 expanded into an exclamatory, prepositional, or interrogative particle, largely mirroring the grammatical functions of its phonetic component 乎. The tiger radical thus distinguishes its core verbal sense of roaring from the grammatical roles acquired through phonetic borrowing.
Etymology Hide
