The phrase "天晓得" (tiān xiǎo de) is formed through a literal combination of the characters 天 (heaven/sky), 晓 (to know/dawn), and 得 (a structural particle indicating possibility or result), creating the literal meaning "heaven knows." It functions as an idiomatic expression that evolved from classical Chinese grammar, where the subject (天) is personified, and the verb (晓得) means "to know," thereby forming a hyperbolic statement used to emphasize that something is utterly unknown or inexplicable to mere humans. It conveys a sense of resigned wonder, irony, or frustration, similar to the English "God only knows," and is used colloquially to underscore uncertainty or the impossibility of knowing an answer.