Hi, does anyone know what kou1 kou1 (ᠡmeans? Thanks.
Did you see it as part of 老摳摳? If so, it’s the character approximation of a Taiwanese term (also written LKK) which means something akin to “fogey” in English. It seems to be a fairly amiable form of address, often used self-deprecatingly when referring to one’s own age.
The Mandarin 摳 has a base meaning of “stingy”, apparently. But I’m guessing what you saw is the Taiwanese.
- Was this something you heard, or saw written?
- If heard, are you positive of the 1st tones? And what was the context?
- Or are you asking about a written character made from two 口 kou3 “mouth” elements?
Assuming it really was “koukou” (spoken), Taffy’s probably right (as usual 
). The ABCC Dict. also lists kou4kou4 (cocoa) and kou4kou4 (sincerely – but this is not common), as well as combinations of kekou and kouke. If you often have questions about what you hear, you might want to pick up a copy of this dictionary, as it lists compounds by pinyin, all grouped together by sound, so that, for example, all the words sounding like “koukou” are listed together, enabling easy searching (regardless of how the characters are written) so that you yourself can judge which one you probably heard based on the context.
The written 吅 is rare, so I doubt this is what you refer to, but just in case, it’s a variant graph for both
喧 xuan1, to proclaim loudly, clamour, yell
and
訟 song4, to argue (a lawsuit).
i think it means “money”…
I think cicadahero is correct. It’s the slang of the youth, methinks. Thanks for your help, everyone! I wonder WHY it means ‘money’, though?
Aha - the simplest explanation is usually the correct one! DB and I were getting too deep - the Taiwanese for 塊 kuài (a lump, an amount of money) is pronounced kho• (which sounds rather like kōu in Mandarin). So NT$8 (bā kuài) would be “peh kho•” in Taiwanese). Kho•-kho• (or kōukōu) fits with the slang pattern of repeating a sound for reinforcement.
My GF confirms that it’s common. I should have just asked her first. :loco: 
Taffy: Wow, nice, that’s a perfect explanation of why it means what it does. Thanks everyone!