Origin

This character combines the radical for "words" or "speech" on the left with a sound component on the right that hints at the pronunciation. The left side, a simple character showing lines that represent spoken words, establishes that this character deals with language and communication. The right component provides a phonetic clue to how the character should be pronounced in Chinese-derived readings. Together, they create a character meaning "to explain" or "to speak about" — literally, words combined with the sound element that guides you to say them aloud in a particular way.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).