哟

yō

also pr. [yao1]

Oh! (interjection indicating slight surprise)

mouth (口) + sound cue (约) = the surprised 'oh!' interjection

口 grounds the character in vocalization — this is a sound made with the mouth. 约 contributes the pronunciation yō rather than any meaning.

口+约→哟

口MouthSemantic

约ApproximatelyPhonetic

哟，你今天来得这么早？

yō , nǐ jīn tiān lái de zhème zǎo ？

Oh, you came so early today?

哟，这个东西比我想的贵多了。

yō , zhè ge dōng xi bǐ wǒ xiǎng de guì duō le 。

Oh, this thing is much more expensive than I thought.

哎哟

āi yō

hey

啊哟

ā yo

interjection of surprise or pain