耍滑 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

shuǎhuá

be slippery

shuǎ frolic

A woman 女 wearing a beard 而 for disguise

而 Meaning component

ér and

女 Meaning component

nǚ, nü woman

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	sqʰʷraːʔ

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

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

骨 Sound component

gǔ, gú bone

Change in sound

滑 and 骨 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
滑 *Nə-gˤrut
骨 *kˤut

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	hweat	Nə-gˤrut	slippery

《說文》：“滑，利也。从水，骨聲。”