■ radical

tán

to talk

How it’s built

Phonosemantic compound. 讠 represents the meaning and 炎 represents the sound. Simplified form of 談.

讠

meaning

speech — 讠 is a component form of 言.

炎

sound

flame; inflammation — The pronunciation of 谈 was similar to 炎 in old Chinese, but they no longer sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes.

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