坦途 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

tǎntú

level road

tǎn flat

Phonosemantic compound. 土 represents the meaning and 旦 represents the sound.

土 Meaning component

tǔ earth

旦 Sound component

dàn dawn

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	thanX	[tʰ]ˤa[n]ʔ	level, at ease

《說文》：“坦，安也。从土，旦聲。”

Phonosemantic compound. 辶 represents the meaning and 余 represents the sound.

辶 Meaning component

chuò walk

辶 is a component form of 辵.

余 Sound component

yú I

Change in sound

途 and 余 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
途 *lˤa
余 *la

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	du	lˤa	road