調 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

tiáodiào HSK3

adjust, tune

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 周 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

周 Sound component

zhōu cycle

Change in sound

調 and 周 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
調 *[d]ˤiw
周 *tiw

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dew	[d]ˤiw	tune (v.), adjust

《說文》：“調，和也。从言，周聲。”

Simplified form of 調. Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 周 represents the sound.

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

周 Sound component

zhōu cycle

Change in sound

调 and 周 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
调 *[d]ˤiw
周 *tiw