噢

ō
interjection #149

Meanings

  1. 1 oh
  2. 2 ah; I see

Examples

HSK 3
Ō, wǒ míngbai le.
Oh, I understand now.
HSK 5
Ō, yuánláirúcǐ.
Oh, so that's how it is.

Tips

usage
噢 expresses sudden understanding or realization. Compare with 哦 (ó/ò) which is more casual, and 喔 which is more exclamatory.

Components

radical
口 kǒu
mouth
Left mouth radical - marks 噢 as a vocal sound, an interjection said aloud. Like the realisation-interjections 哦, 哎, 呀, 啊, the mouth radical signals 'this is something exclaimed', not a thing or action.
phonetic
奥 ào
deep; profound (here phonetic)
Right component supplies the sound - 奥 ào shares the back-vowel rime with 噢 ō, a near-perfect borrowing. The 'profound, mysterious' sense of 奥 contributes nothing semantically; this is a pure sound-loan compound that exists only to write the realisation interjection.

Stroke Order

噢 ō