In East Asian languages, 吸 is commonly used in compounds relating to breathing, drinking, or absorbing.
Frequently paired with 呼 (호, exhale) as 呼吸 (호흡) to express the full cycle of breathing.
In modern Chinese, it often conveys both literal (inhale, absorb) and figurative (attract, draw in) meanings.

Phono-semantic compound:
口 (구, mouth) — semantic component, indicating the act of the mouth.
及 (급, to reach, to extend) — phonetic component, providing the sound.

吸收 (흡수) — absorption, to absorb
呼吸 (호흡) — breathing (exhalation and inhalation)
吸煙 (흡연) — smoking (tobacco)
吸引 (흡인) — to attract, to draw in

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

to take charge of, to oversee, to guard, official duty

each, every, each one individually

to combine, to unite, to put together, to gather, to collect

same, together, collective

name

to face, to turn toward

ruler, lord, sovereign

not, to deny, to block

to inhale, to suck in, to drink, to absorb, to smoke (as in cigarettes)

I, me, first-person pronoun

to announce, to inform, to tell, to report, to accuse, to sue (in legal contexts)

all around, complete, thorough

taste

to scold, to reproach, to exhale, to blow air

to call, to cry out, to shout, to exhale, breathe out

life, fate, destiny

harmony, peace

The content on this page provided under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

Chinese character

Explore 214 Chinese radicals and their derived characters. Sort by radical or stroke count, and view the complete list of official Hanja radicals.

Chinese characters (Hanja)

Chinese characters dictionary

吸

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Words that derived from 吸

Additional notes

Neighboring characters in the dictionary

References