Definitions

guō to chat, to gossip, to jaw, to talk; mouth

Etymology

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

About

is the simplified form of the traditional character , a phonosemantic compound in which ('mouth') provides the meaning and (depicting a bone joint or skull) the sound. Originally, denoted a wry or asymmetrical mouth, and later it was borrowed phonetically for the surname Guo. The simplification replaced the internal component with , while keeping the outer frame. Today, the original meaning is largely obsolete; serves mostly as a proper noun or a phonetic building block in other characters.

Etymology Hide

Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern