体贴

tǐtiē · HSK 7

be considerate

🤗 体 (body) + 贴 (stick close) = stick close to someone's needs = considerate

贴 means to paste or stick something tightly against a surface. Pairing it with 体 (body) gives the sense of staying close to another person's feelings and needs, which is what being thoughtful and considerate is.

贴 — shell radical 贝 + occupy 占
A semantic-phonetic compound. The shell radical 贝 (originally cowrie shells used as money) signals the meaning, since 贴 first meant 'to pawn' or 'to pledge' something for money. The phonetic 占 (zhān) hints at the sound. The meaning later broadened to 'paste/stick on' and 'subsidy'.

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