Character 謡

It means singing, a song, or Noh chant in Japanese.

A classical Book of Songs line says “I sing and chant”; its poems are generally placed around 1000–600 BCE. A later Chinese dictionary glosses the related form as singing without instrumental accompaniment. It grew out of an evolving character tradition for voiced song, not a named inventor or a computer symbol.

Japanese gives that inherited song sense a strong Noh home. Noh grew through older performance traditions such as sarugaku and dengaku; Kannami is credited with adding kusemai rhythm to Noh’s utai chant. Printed utai books, the texts singers hold, helped carry the practice beyond the stage.

When does 謡 mean rumor?

Only in the Chinese branch of its written tradition.

Traditional Chinese 謠 has a separate documented sense: an invented or unfounded report, especially in its standard rumor compound. The song sense remains in folk-song compounds. Japanese 謡 stays in the song and Noh lane.

If someone sends only 謡, do not decide between “chant” and “rumor” from the glyph alone. Identify the language and surrounding word first. In Japanese, a bare 謡 reads as literary or Noh-related.