<p>「聞」(Baxter-Sagart OC: <strong>/*mu[n]/</strong>) is comprised of semantic「耳」(<em>ear</em>) and phonetic「門」(<strong>/*mˤə[r]/</strong>), indicating the meaning <strong><em>to hear</em></strong>. For example,「新聞」means <em>news</em> (literally meaning <em>new information passed on by hearing/reading/etc.</em>)</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>「門」does not play a meaning role in「聞」. For that matter, it does not play a meaning role in「問」, either.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><em>To smell</em> is a semantic extension. For example, in English, <em>there's something fishy going on</em> is used to describe a situation which is not quite right, literally referring to <em>the smell of fish</em>, but metaphorically referring to someone picking up information about their surroundings and deducing that something feels off.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-20T06:00:39.280Z
2019-09-20T06:13:05.473Z
2019-09-20T06:13:05.473Z
dROOOze
<p>NOTE: This is a hypothesis, not a fact.</p>

<p>The complex form, 聞, has a rather straightforward ideogrammatic interpretation as a pair of doors (門) with an ear (耳) presenting itself within the space beneath them, suggesting a human placing or centering their ear at or within the frame of the door pair's (door bottom)-(floor top) gap to hear sound issuing from the space behind said door. (This, in addition to that 門 is phonetically similar to 聞.) Hence, it has the meaning of <strong>hearing</strong>, i.e. hearing sound (音), perhaps whatever is going on on the other side of the door (i.e. snooping).</p>

<p>This element is used in more complex pieces with the meaning <em>hearing</em> - e.g. see the compounds section on Wiktionary:</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%81%9E" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%81%9E</a></p>

<p>e.g. 但聞. These suggest that, in a sense, the notion of "hear" became more generalized to the application of other sense organs - such as the nose - to an object of interests as well, essentially, to, more generally, "hear a smell" with the nose. It's generalized hearing, if you will, and carries the cognition of sensation or detection as a concept being a generalization of the notion of gathering information through the employment of the ear.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-20T06:00:53.377Z
2019-09-20T06:00:53.377Z
The_Sympathizer
<p>Baidu has <a href="https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E2%80%9C%E9%97%BB%E2%80%9D%E7%9A%84%E8%AF%8D%E4%B9%89%E8%BD%AC%E5%8F%98/14697452" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>:</p>

<p>“闻”字在先秦时期<strong>已经被用来表示嗅到</strong>，《韩非子 · 十过》有**“闻酒臭而还”<strong>。我相信当时口语中</strong>表示嗅到的词与“闻”同音**，但<strong>没有专字</strong>，所以借用“闻”字来表示。这种现象在汉字中很普遍，如“朋”、“来”、“其”、“而”等等。如此观之，“闻”表示“嗅到”有可能是<strong>假借义</strong>。由广变窄，变专的过程。文学接受进入高潮阶段的一种更高境界，是指读者在阅读文学作品，与之形成共鸣，并达到净化后进入的更高阶段，包括潜思默想、洞悉宇宙奥妙、体悟人生真谛和提升精神境界等状况与过程。 我个人简单认为： 领悟就是心灵受到某种触动，而使智慧知识上升等级的过程。</p>

<p>Are the senses really all 1 sense? Is everyhting just in our minds? I recently read that the structures known as tastebuds are found in many other places in our bodies, apart from our mouths.</p>

<p>见 is see, but 听见 is hear.</p>

<p>There is a condition known as synesthesia. If you suffer from this, you may smell music, hear tastes.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-20T06:51:33.540Z
2019-09-20T06:51:33.540Z
Pedroski
<p>Why is there an 'ear' radical in the character for smell? 闻 聞</p>

<p>I find this pretty confusing. Perhaps there is a fun story behind it?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-20T12:08:11.970Z
For the record, in Classical Chinese, 臭 (= 自 originally meaning 'nose' and 犬 for 'dog') was the character for the verb "to smell" as well as the noun "a smell" (and the adjective "odorous").
Michaelyus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-20T13:40:53.760Z
@Michaelyus you should mention that in the *to smell* sense, 臭 is pronounced **xiù**.
dROOOze
<glyph-origin><character-components>
Why is there an 'ear' component in the character for smell? 闻 聞
# Why is there an 'ear' component in the character for smell? 闻 聞

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-20)

Why is there an 'ear' radical in the character for smell? 闻 聞

I find this pretty confusing. Perhaps there is a fun story behind it?

**Tags:** glyph-origin, character-components

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: For the record, in Classical Chinese, 臭 (= 自 originally meaning 'nose' and 犬 for 'dog') was the character for the verb "to smell" as well as the noun "a smell" (and the adjective "odorous").  
> **username_2**: @username_1 you should mention that in the *to smell* sense, 臭 is pronounced **xiù**.  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-09-20. Score: 4

「聞」(Baxter-Sagart OC: **/\*mu[n]/**) is comprised of semantic「耳」(*ear*) and phonetic「門」(**/\*mˤə[r]/**), indicating the meaning ***to hear***. For example,「新聞」means *news* (literally meaning *new information passed on by hearing/reading/etc.*)

> 「門」does not play a meaning role in「聞」. For that matter, it does not play a meaning role in「問」, either.

*To smell* is a semantic extension. For example, in English, *there's something fishy going on* is used to describe a situation which is not quite right, literally referring to *the smell of fish*, but metaphorically referring to someone picking up information about their surroundings and deducing that something feels off.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2019-09-20. Score: 1

NOTE: This is a hypothesis, not a fact.

The complex form, 聞, has a rather straightforward ideogrammatic interpretation as a pair of doors (門) with an ear (耳) presenting itself within the space beneath them, suggesting a human placing or centering their ear at or within the frame of the door pair's (door bottom)-(floor top) gap to hear sound issuing from the space behind said door. (This, in addition to that 門 is phonetically similar to 聞.) Hence, it has the meaning of **hearing**, i.e. hearing sound (音), perhaps whatever is going on on the other side of the door (i.e. snooping).

This element is used in more complex pieces with the meaning *hearing* - e.g. see the compounds section on Wiktionary:

<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%81%9E>

e.g. 但聞. These suggest that, in a sense, the notion of "hear" became more generalized to the application of other sense organs - such as the nose - to an object of interests as well, essentially, to, more generally, "hear a smell" with the nose. It's generalized hearing, if you will, and carries the cognition of sensation or detection as a concept being a generalization of the notion of gathering information through the employment of the ear.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2019-09-20. Score: 0

Baidu has [this](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E2%80%9C%E9%97%BB%E2%80%9D%E7%9A%84%E8%AF%8D%E4%B9%89%E8%BD%AC%E5%8F%98/14697452):

“闻”字在先秦时期**已经被用来表示嗅到**，《韩非子 · 十过》有\*\*“闻酒臭而还”**。我相信当时口语中**表示嗅到的词与“闻”同音\*\*，但**没有专字**，所以借用“闻”字来表示。这种现象在汉字中很普遍，如“朋”、“来”、“其”、“而”等等。如此观之，“闻”表示“嗅到”有可能是**假借义**。由广变窄，变专的过程。文学接受进入高潮阶段的一种更高境界，是指读者在阅读文学作品，与之形成共鸣，并达到净化后进入的更高阶段，包括潜思默想、洞悉宇宙奥妙、体悟人生真谛和提升精神境界等状况与过程。 我个人简单认为： 领悟就是心灵受到某种触动，而使智慧知识上升等级的过程。

Are the senses really all 1 sense? Is everyhting just in our minds? I recently read that the structures known as tastebuds are found in many other places in our bodies, apart from our mouths.

见 is see, but 听见 is hear.

There is a condition known as synesthesia. If you suffer from this, you may smell music, hear tastes.


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