調

diàotiáo

adjust, tune

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
言 meaning component

  Meaning component

yán

  

speech

周 sound component

  Sound component

zhōu

  

cycle

Evolution

調 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
調 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
調 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
調 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

(調) 

diào

transfer, move, change; tune; to transfer; to move (troops or cadres); to investigate; to enquire into; accent; view; argument; key (in music); mode (music); tone; melody

(調) 

tiáo

to harmonize; to reconcile; to blend; to suit well; to adjust; to regulate; to season (food); to provoke; to incite

Most common words with 調
Freq.
Word
Meaning

调查

inquiry

调整

to adjust

to transfer

强调

to stress

协调

to coordinate

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[d]ˤiw

dew

tiáo

tune (v.), adjust


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 69.4538% of movies

473rd most common character in movies

400th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

15

Simplified

Unicode

U+8ABF

Shuowen

“調,和也。从言,周聲。”


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