sound; voice
HSK level
声音 (shēngyīn) means 'sound' or 'voice' — any audible noise, including a person's voice, a musical sound, traffic noise, or animal calls.
Literally 声 'sound' + 音 'tone' — a redundant compound where both characters carry the meaning. Differences from English: English splits 'voice' (from a person) and 'sound' (everything else), but 声音 covers both. To specify, you can say 他的声音 ('his voice') or 鸟的声音 ('the sound of birds').
For volume, use 大 / 小: 声音大 ('loud'), 声音小 ('quiet / soft'), 把声音开大一点 ('turn the volume up'). To 'make a sound' is 发出声音; to 'lower your voice' is 小声一点. Related compounds: 大声 (loudly), 小声 (softly), 嗓音 (sǎngyīn, voice quality).
Character by character
Memory hook: 声 + 音 both mean 'sound' — doubled up for emphasis: sound / voice.
声音 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Browse the full episode library你的声音真好听。
Nǐ de shēngyīn zhēn hǎotīng.
Your voice is really lovely.
spoken
外面的声音太大了。
Wàimiàn de shēngyīn tài dà le.
The noise outside is too loud.
spoken
我听到了一个奇怪的声音。
Wǒ tīngdào le yí ge qíguài de shēngyīn.
I heard a strange sound.
neutral
请把电视的声音开小一点。
Qǐng bǎ diànshì de shēngyīn kāi xiǎo yìdiǎn.
Please turn the TV volume down a bit.
neutral
孩子睡了，我们小声一点。
Háizi shuì le, wǒmen xiǎoshēng yìdiǎn.
The child is asleep — let's keep our voices down.
spoken
声音 is written with 16 strokes (声: 7, 音: 9). Tap replay to watch each character drawn again.
嗓音 specifically refers to the quality of a person's voice (deep, hoarse, sweet). 声音 is broader — any sound, including a voice. A singer's 嗓音 is her vocal quality; 她的声音 is more general 'her voice.'
Bare 音 is mostly used in compounds (音乐 music, 录音 recording, 拼音 pinyin) and rarely stands alone for 'sound.' Use 声音 in normal speech.
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