停顿
tíng dùn · HSK 7
pause
🛑 停 (to stop) + 顿 (a pause/halt) = a stop-pause, a break in speech
停 — person 亻 + pavilion 亭
A semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning, while 亭 (pavilion, also pronounced tíng) supplies the sound. The image is of a person stopping at a roadside pavilion to rest, which yields the modern senses 'to stop, halt, park.'
顿 — 屯 (tún, phonetic) + 頁/页 (head)
A phono-semantic compound. The right side 頁 means 'head', hinting at the original sense of bowing or knocking the head to the ground. The left side 屯 supplies the sound. From 'kowtow' it extended to 'pause, halt' and then to 'a bout/instance', as in 一顿饭 (one meal).