叱

A phono-semantic compound attested in bronze inscriptions (金文 jinwen):

口 (mouth) — semantic component, classifies the character within the domain of vocal utterance — specifically the sharp, directed utterance of reproof;

七 (seven) — phonetic component, supplies the reading 질 (jil / chì), used purely for sound.

In gugyeol (구결), the cursive annotation system used to read classical Chinese texts in Korean, 叱 was conventionally abbreviated to its phonetic component 七 for ease of handwriting.

叱 appears in literary, classical, and formal contexts. It describes not the prolonged moral reproof of 諫 or the written counsel of 箴, but the sharp, immediate verbal strike — a voice raised and aimed.

질책 (叱責) — to reproach sharply; to rebuke with severity

질타 (叱咤) — to shout at; to berate; to thunder at someone

질咤 (叱咤) — a shout of command or reproach; a fierce verbal outburst

호통 (叱呵) — a thundering rebuke; a loud scolding

Idiomatic expressions:

질타성 (叱咤聲) — the sound of fierce shouting and rebuke; a voice of command and reproach that silences those around it.

질풍노도 (疾風怒濤) — though not directly built on 叱, this phrase shares the register of 叱咤: the furious wind and raging wave that characterize the same emotional intensity as a great rebuke delivered in full force.

This dual life — semantic character in Chinese, phonographic marker in Korean — makes 叱 one of the more historically layered characters in the Korean scribal tradition, its Chinese identity and its Korean phonographic function coexisting across centuries of manuscript culture.

Among scolding characters, 叱 is the most immediate and vocal. It is the sharp cry, the sudden raised voice — not the sustained moral argument of 諫, not the formal written admonition of 箴, not the repeated earnest urging of 叮. 叱 is the voice that cuts the air once, hard and fast.

Related characters:

責 — to reproach; to hold accountable (paired with 叱 in 叱責)

咤 — to shout; to cry out (paired with 叱 in 叱咤)

諫 — to remonstrate; to admonish a superior (sustained, formal)

箴 — written admonition; moral counsel (literary genre)

罵 — to scold abusively; to curse

喝 — to shout; to cry out in command

Among these, 叱 and 喝 share the register of sharp vocal command; 罵 adds abusive or insulting content; 諫 and 箴 elevate reproof into formal and literary acts. 叱 alone is the pure, unadorned sound of reproof — the voice at the moment of striking.

Classical citations:

《史記·項羽本紀》 (Records of the Grand Historian)

「項王叱之，赤泉侯人馬俱驚，辟易數里」

"Xiang Yu shouted at him — the horses and men of the Marquis of Chiquan were all startled, falling back several li."

One of the most celebrated uses of 叱 in the classical corpus: a single shout from Xiang Yu scattering an entire cavalry force. The passage established 叱 in the literary imagination as the voice of overwhelming personal authority — a rebuke that requires no weapon.

《三國志·蜀書·張飛傳》 (Records of the Three Kingdoms)

「飛據水斷橋，瞋目橫矛，叱曰：身是張益德也，可來共決死！」

"Zhang Fei stood at the broken bridge, eyes glaring, spear leveled, and shouted: I am Zhang Yide — come and fight to the death with me!"

The iconic scene in which Zhang Fei's single shout (叱) stops Cao Cao's pursuing army — 叱 here at its most dramatic, the lone voice holding a bridge against thousands.

The original compositional form is ⿰口七 (mouth + seven). For reasons not fully documented, the character came to be written across the Sinophone world primarily as ⿰口𠤎 — a graphic drift from 七 toward a visually similar but distinct stroke form.

Both forms entered Unicode separately: the drifted form ⿰口𠤎 at U+53F1 (叱), and the etymologically original ⿰口七 form at U+20B9F (𠮟).

Japan's 2010 revised Jōyō kanji list formally adopted the original form 𠮟 (U+20B9F) in preference to 叱 (U+53F1), though in everyday practice 叱 remains far more common even in Japan.