Drumbeat Variant

It names a drumbeat in writing. The character stacks 皷 over 冬: 皷 is a variant of 鼓 (“drum”), and 冬 gives a sound cue in Mandarin Chinese (dōng).

How old is the word for this sound?

The word is attested in Tang poetry and in the Song-era Guangyun. Tang poet Liu Yuxi writes of morning and evening drums; Song poet Lu You writes of ceremonial drums. The rhyme dictionary Guangyun defines 鼕 as “drum sound” and notes that Shuowen, an earlier Chinese character dictionary, omits it. The same sound word can also describe a deep knock.