喔

喔 U+5594, 喔 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5594 ← 喓 [U+5593] CJK Unified Ideographs 喕 → [U+5595]

Translingual

Han character

喔 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 口尸一土 (RSMG), four-corner 6701₄, composition ⿰口屋)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 198, character 24
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3940
• Dae Jaweon: page 420, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 662, character 12
• Unihan data for U+5594

Chinese

simp. and trad.		喔

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (屋) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
握	*qroːɡ
幄	*qroːɡ
偓	*qroːɡ
渥	*qroːɡ
齷	*qroːɡ
楃	*qroːɡ
喔	*qroːɡ
腛	*qroːɡ
媉	*qroːɡ
屋	*qoːɡ
剭	*qoːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *qroːɡ): semantic 口 (“mouth”) + phonetic 屋 (OC *qoːɡ).

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wò, wō, wū (wo⁴, wo¹, wu¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄨㄛˋ, ㄨㄛ, ㄨ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): ak¹ / ok¹ / ngak¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): ak / ok

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Standard Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wò
    • Zhuyin: ㄨㄛˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wò
    • Wade–Giles: wo⁴
    • Yale: wò
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: woh
    • Palladius: во (vo)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wɔ⁵¹/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, Standard Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wō
    • Zhuyin: ㄨㄛ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wo
    • Wade–Giles: wo¹
    • Yale: wō
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: uo
    • Palladius: во (vo)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /wɔ⁵⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wū
    • Zhuyin: ㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wu
    • Wade–Giles: wu¹
    • Yale: wū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: u
    • Palladius: у (u)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /u⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: ak¹ / ok¹ / ngak¹
    • Yale: āk / ōk / ngāk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: ak⁷ / ok⁷ / ngak⁷
    • Guangdong Romanization: eg¹ / og¹ / ngeg¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɐk̚⁵/, /ɔːk̚⁵/, /ŋɐk̚⁵/

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ak
    • Tâi-lô: ak
    • Phofsit Daibuun: ag
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /ak̚³²/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ok
    • Tâi-lô: ok
    • Phofsit Daibuun: og
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /ɔk̚³²/

---

• Middle Chinese: 'aewk

Rime
Character	喔
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	影 (34)
Final (韻)	覺 (10)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	II
Fanqie	於角切
Baxter	'aewk
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔˠʌk̚/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔᵚɔk̚/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔɔk̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔaɨwk̚/
Li Rong	/ʔɔk̚/
Wang Li	/ɔk̚/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ʔɔk̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	yue
Expected Cantonese Reflex	ok3

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*qroːɡ/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	喔
Reading #	1/1
No.	13072
Phonetic component	屋
Rime group	屋
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	渥
Old Chinese	/*qroːɡ/

Definitions

喔

1. the sound of a chicken: cluck

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): ō (o¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄛ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): o¹
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): o͘h

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: ō
    • Zhuyin: ㄛ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: o
    • Wade–Giles: o¹
    • Yale: ō
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: o
    • Palladius: о (o)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ˀɔ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: o¹
    • Yale: ō
    • Cantonese Pinyin: o¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: o¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ɔː⁵⁵/

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: o͘h
    • Tâi-lô: ooh
    • Phofsit Daibuun: oq
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /ɔʔ³²/

Interjection

喔

1. Particle conveying realization or surprise.

Compounds

• 呃喔
• 咿喔
• 喔呀
• 喔咿
• 喔咿嚅唲
• 喔唷
• 喔喔
• 喔喲 / 喔哟
• 喹喔啉 (kuí'ōlín)
• 喔嚄
• 嚶喔 / 嘤喔

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): --o͘h

---

• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: --o͘h
    • Tâi-lô: --ooh

Interjection

喔

1. (Taiwanese Hokkien) Emphatic final particle used to make requests

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 吧 (“(sentence-final particle used with a command or suggestion)”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		吧
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	吧
	Singapore	啦, 吧
Cantonese	Guangzhou	啦
	Hong Kong	啦
	Singapore (Guangfu)	啦
Southern Min	Xiamen	閣
	Quanzhou	唷
	Zhangzhou	閣
	Taipei	喔
	Kaohsiung	喔
	Singapore (Hokkien)	啦
	Manila (Hokkien)	唷, 閣

References

• “喔”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “喔”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

Japanese

Kanji

喔

(Hyōgai kanji)

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Readings

• On (unclassified): あく (aku)、らく (raku)、おく (oku)

Korean

Hanja

喔 • (ak) (hangeul 악, revised ak, McCune–Reischauer ak)

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Vietnamese

Han character

喔: Hán Nôm readings: ác, ộc, ọt, ốc, ủ

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