呜咽

• Pinyin: wū yè
• Hanzi breakdown: 呜 = 口 + 乌 (mouth like a crow calling — a mournful cry); 咽 = 口 + 因 (mouth constricted — choking back)

Meaning

To sob; to whimper; to make a mournful, suppressed crying sound. Also used for melancholy natural sounds resembling sobbing.

Literary and poetic register. Used for human sobbing that is suppressed or stifled and for mournful natural sounds (风声呜咽 = the wind wailing like a sob). More evocative and restrained than 哭泣 (weep) — implies sorrow held back rather than openly released.

Examples

1. 她独自坐在角落里，低低地呜咽着，不愿让任何人看到她脆弱的一面。 She sat alone in the corner, quietly sobbing, unwilling to let anyone see her vulnerable side.
2. 深夜里，窗外的寒风呜咽着穿过树梢，令人平添了几分莫名的悲凉。 Late at night, the cold wind outside whimpered through the treetops, adding an inexplicable chill of sadness.
3. 老人听到噩耗后，无声地呜咽了很久，眼泪顺着布满皱纹的脸颊缓缓流下。 After hearing the bad news, the old man sobbed silently for a long time, tears slowly running down his wrinkled cheeks.

Usage Guide

Context: literature, emotion, nature imagery

Tone: melancholy

Do Say

• 小说中有一段极为动人的描写：母亲跪在儿子的墓前，无声地呜咽，双手颤抖着抚摸着冰冷的石碑。(There is an extremely moving passage in the novel: the mother kneels before her son's grave, silently sobbing, her hands trembling as they stroke the cold stone tablet.)
• 秋风呜咽，落叶纷飞，诗人独立于荒凉的古道旁，心中涌起难以言说的思乡之情。(The autumn wind wails like sobbing and fallen leaves scatter — the poet stands alone beside a desolate ancient road, overcome by a homesickness impossible to put into words.)

Don't Say

• 他大声呜咽 — 呜咽 specifically implies suppressed, quiet, or restrained sobbing; for loud open weeping use 嚎啕大哭 or 放声大哭; combining 大声 with 呜咽 is contradictory

Origin & History

呜 (onomatopoeia for weeping or wailing) + 咽 (to swallow — swallowing back tears and sobs)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal