傻眼 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

shǎyǎn

stunned

shǎ foolish

Depicts a person (亻) with a gap in their skull (𡕩), i.e. with no brains.

亻 Meaning component

rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

mǎn gap between bones in skull

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	sqʰʷraːʔ
	sqʰʷraːs

Phonosemantic compound. 目 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound.

目 Meaning component

mù eye

艮 Sound component

gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ngonX	ŋˤə[n]ʔ	protrude as a knob
	ngeanX	[ŋ]ˤ<r>ə[n]ʔ	eye

《說文》：“眼，目也。从目，聲。”