佳妙 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

jiāmiào

beautiful

jiā good, beautiful

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 圭 represents the sound.

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

圭 Sound component

guī jade pointed at top

Change in sound

佳 and 圭 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
佳 *[k]ˤre
圭 *[k]ʷˤe

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kea	[k]ˤre	good

《說文》：“佳，善也。从人，圭聲。”

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 少 represents the sound.

女 Meaning component

nǚ, nü woman

少 Sound component

shǎo, shao, shào few

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	mjiewH	[m]ew(ʔ)-s	marvelous