抓瞎 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

zhuāxiā

at a loss

zhuā scratch

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 瓜 represents the sound.

扌 Meaning component

shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

zhǎo, zhuǎ hand, claw

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsraew	[ts](ˤ)ru	grasp
	tsraewX	tsˤ<r>uʔ	grasp

To damage 害 one's eyes 目; 害 also provides the pronunciation

目 Meaning component

mù eye

hài, hai injure

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	qʰraːd