謼 Chinese character 謼

What 謼 means

It means to call out loudly.

An inscription on bronze from the middle period of the Western Zhou dynasty, an early Chinese dynasty, shows the character; later examples appear on Qin bamboo slips (thin strips used for writing) and in Han clerical script, a formal Chinese writing style. Shuowen Jiezi, an early Chinese character dictionary, explains 謼 through the older graph 𧦝 as “to summon”; later dictionaries gloss it as “to shout loudly.” Han-period examples use it for someone crying out under interrogation and in a public outcry: 一夫大謼 is one man's great shout drawing a wider response.

Is 謼 an old form of 呼?

It is historically connected to 呼 and related written forms.

Shuowen Jiezi, an early dictionary of Chinese characters, explains 謼 through the older graph 𧦝, using the sense “to summon.” Character-variant records—lists of alternate written forms—include 嘑 and 𠻢; later dictionaries connect the same calling sense to 呼, the ordinary modern Chinese spelling.

A traditional dictionary note records 謼 as a Jiangdong expression; Jiangdong was a historical region around the lower Yangtze River.

Archaic and literary; ordinary modern Chinese uses 呼 for the everyday “call” sense.

In a plain modern message, 謼 can read as conspicuously old-fashioned; keep it for a historical quotation or deliberate archaic voice.