哎呦
āi​yōu

oh my

哎 āi interjection of surprise

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

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
艾
艾 Sound component
ài, yì, aì Chinese mugwort or wormwood

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

呦 yōu the bleating of the deer

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth

mouth

幼
幼 Sound component
yòu young, infant

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangqrɯw
Unicodegiəu

說文解字

鹿鳴聲也。从口幼聲。

Sources

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