听
tīng
From "hear this" to "do as you're told" — one ear
The picture An ear swivels toward the noise and stays open, letting the sound walk in. 听 is the ear opening to take sound in; 说 is the mouth pushing sound out.
Where the picture shows up in 听
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turning the ear to it
你听一下这个录音。
nǐ tīng yíxià zhège lùyīn
Give this recording a listen.
An earbud goes in and the head tilts slightly, aiming the ear at the sound
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words drifted in
我听说他要回国了。
wǒ tīngshuō tā yào huíguó le
I heard he's going back home.
Words leave someone else's mouth, cross the air, and slide into your ear
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the sound arrives broken
信号不好，我听不清。
xìnhào bù hǎo, wǒ tīng bu qīng
Bad signal — I can't hear you clearly.
The voice on the phone snaps into pieces mid-air and only half reaches the ear
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what came in moves the body
这个孩子很听话。
zhège háizi hěn tīnghuà
This child does as he's told.
One sentence from an adult and the child's hands and feet move exactly that way
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walking where the words point
你要听医生的。
nǐ yào tīng yīshēng de
You should do what the doctor says.
The doctor's words lay themselves out as a path and the patient steps onto it
All of it in one picture
听 is one picture: an ear held open. Turn it toward a recording and you are giving it a listen; let words from someone's mouth drift in and you "heard" it. Let the sound break apart on the way and it no longer reaches you clearly; let the words that got in move a child's hands and feet and it becomes doing as you're told — follow the doctor's words down the road they lay at your feet and it becomes obeying.