The kanji 叫 generally means to "shout," "yell," or "cry out" loudly. It conveys the act of making a loud vocal sound, often expressing strong emotions such as anger, fear, surprise, or excitement. It implies a sudden and forceful emission of sound from the mouth.

・On-yomi (音読み): きょう (kyou) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): さけ（ぶ） (sake(bu))

⚫︎ 彼女は驚いて大声で叫んだ。 Translation: She shouted in surprise. ⚫︎ 彼は助けを求めて叫んだ。 Translation: He yelled for help. ⚫︎ みんなは歓声を上げて叫んだ。 Translation: Everyone cheered and yelled.

The kanji 叫 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The right side of the character, 口 (kuchi), represents "mouth," indicating the action is related to vocalization. The left side, 丂 (kou), a phonetic component, provides the sound, suggesting a connection to the sound of something breaking, which would have been loud. Combined, these elements suggest an emission of sound from the mouth; therefore, the character is now used to mean "shout," "yell," or "cry out."