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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

答

dá
to answer; to reply
  • HSK 5
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 竹
  • 12 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Cognate with 對 (OC *tuːbs, “to respond”) (Schuessler, 2007), which is the exoactive of 答 (OC *tkuːb). Compare Tibetan འདེབས ('debs, “to cast; to send”) (Hill, 2019).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

Related: Tibetan འདེབས

Words built on it: 回答, 答案

Meanings

character
  1. to answer; to reply
  2. to repay; to requite

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 應對、回覆別人的問題。 例：回答、答覆、笑而不答
  2. 回報他人的恩惠。 例：報答、答謝

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 答 was written 字形演變

  1. 答 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  2. 答 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 答 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 答