傲
ào · HSK 7
arrogant
👑 Sounds like OW — stepped on toes and too proud to apologize
The ào sound echoes an exclamation of pain. A proud person causes friction and refuses to back down, like someone who steps on your foot and walks on unyielding.
傲 — person 亻 + 敖 (phonetic, 'roam/haughty')
傲 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the person radical 亻 gives the meaning (a human attitude), while 敖 supplies the sound 'ao' and a hint of 'roaming free, unrestrained.' The original sense was a person acting aloof or unrestrained, which shifted to today's meanings of 'proud, arrogant, haughty.'