哇靠 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

wākào

whoa

wa, wā wow!

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

Components

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

圭 Sound component

guī jade pointed at top

Change in sound

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

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	qreː
	qʷraː

說文解字

《說文》：“哇，諂聲也。从口，圭聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

kào lean on

Original meaning: conflict

Phonosemantic compound. 非 represents the meaning and 告 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "conflict". The meaning later shifted to "lean against".

Components

告 Sound component

gào tell

非 Meaning component

fēi not

Change in meaning

非 hints at the original meaning of 靠, "conflict", which is no longer the most common meaning of 靠 in modern Mandarin.

Character Evolution

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

Historical Pronunciations

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	kʰuːɡs

說文解字

《說文》：“靠，相違也。从非，告聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

哇 wa, wā wow!

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

靠 kào lean on

Components

Character Evolution

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

Sources

wa, wā wow!

kào lean on