答 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

dádā HSK1

answer

Original meaning: small bean

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 合 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "small bean". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

⺮ Meaning component

zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

Change in meaning

⺮ hints at the original meaning of 答, "small bean", which is no longer the most common meaning of 答 in modern Mandarin.

合 Sound component

hé to join

Change in sound

答 and 合 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
答 top
合 kop

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

劄

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	top	[t]ˤ[u]p	answer

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.68
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart