骄傲
jiāoào · HSK 6
be proud
🐴👑 骄 = horse + tall, 傲 = person + roam: standing tall and free = proud
骄 pairs horse 马 with tall 乔 — a horse that holds its head high. 傲 puts person 亻next to roam 敖. Together they describe someone who carries themselves with unapologetic pride.
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.'