咬
yǎo · HSK 5
grip
🦷 口 mouth + 交 cross/exchange = teeth crossing onto something = bite
Phono-semantic: 口 (mouth) gives the meaning, 交 (jiāo, to cross) hints at the sound yǎo. Extended senses come from a mouth clamping down — gripping, articulating, or falsely accusing (biting back at) someone.
咬 — mouth 口 + 交 (jiāo, phonetic)
咬 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The mouth radical 口 carries the meaning—an action done with the mouth—while 交 supplies the sound, shifted from jiāo to yǎo. The core sense 'to bite' has been stable since classical usage, with extended senses like 'to grip' or 'to enunciate clearly' (as in 咬字) developing later.