噼 is an onomatopoeic character that imitates sharp, snapping sounds like cracks, slaps, claps, or clatters. In standard Mandarin it almost always appears in reduplicated compounds: 噼啪 (pīpā, a single crack) and 噼里啪啦 (pīlipālā, continuous crackling, as of firecrackers, typing, or rain on a roof). It can also be used alone as a sound effect (噼的一声). Note that in Cantonese, 噼 has an unrelated colloquial meaning: 'child's buttocks' (informal, like English 'tush').