嘅
gěkǎi

sound of sighing

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 既 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
既
既 Sound component
jì already

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhojHC.qʰˤəp-ssigh
Zhengzhangkʰɯːds

說文解字

嘆也。从口旣聲。《詩》曰：“嘅其嘆矣。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)