听tīng

听

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Simplified · Today

繁体

Traditional Chinese

聽 (tīng, "to listen") carries far more visual complexity than its simplified counterpart — the traditional form gathers ear (耳), mouth (口), and the character for virtue/heart (悳) into one character, as if to suggest that true listening engages the whole person. The simplified 听, adopted in the 1950s reforms, retains only the ear radical paired with the phonetic 丁, stripping away the philosophical depth of its ancestor.

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Shuowen

Listen. The character combines 口 (mouth) with 斤 (axe), though in earliest oracle bone forms it featured 耳 (ear) as the primary component—the organ of hearing itself. The modern structure suggests attentive reception, as if one opens the mouth to receive sound, while 斤 serves as phonetic element. This pictographic root of ear evolved into the current form, preserving the essential meaning of auditory perception through time.

Pinyin

tīng· HSK 1· Radical 口

听tīng

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin