諒 Origin — Chinese Character Wiki

liàng

excuse, forgive

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

Components

言 Meaning component

yán speech

京 Sound component

jīng capital city

Change in sound

諒 and 京 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
諒 *[r]aŋ-s
京 *[k]raŋ

Regular Modern

▼ More ▲ Less

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	ljangH	[r]aŋ-s	sincere; trust (v.)

《說文》：“諒，信也。从言，京聲。”

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 京 represents the sound. Simplified form of 諒.

讠 Meaning component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言.

京 Sound component

jīng capital city

Change in sound

谅 and 京 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
谅 *[r]aŋ-s
京 *[k]raŋ