汩汩 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

gǔgǔ

gurgling

gǔ, yù, hú gurgle; rapid; regulate river

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the sound and 曰 represents the meaning.

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

曰 Sound component

yuē say

Change in sound

汩 and 曰 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
汩 *[ɢʷ]rət
曰 *[ɢ]ʷat

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kwot	[kʷ]ˤ[ə]t	regulate (rivers)
	hwit	[ɢʷ]rət	flow; go fast

《說文》：“汩，治水也。从水，曰聲。”