套娃 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

tàowá

matryoshka

tào cover

A cover has to be big (大) and long (镸) enough to wrap around what it is covering.

大 Meaning component

dà, dài big

镸 Meaning component

cháng long

镸 is a component form of 長.

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	tʰaːw
	tʰaːws

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

女 Meaning component

nǚ, nü woman

圭 Sound component

guī jade pointed at top

Change in sound

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

Regular Modern

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	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	qreː

《說文》：“娃，圜深目皃。或曰，吳楚之間謂好曰娃。从女，圭聲。”