协定
xiédìng · HSK 7
agreement
🤝 协 cooperate + 定 settle = a settled cooperation, i.e. a pact
协 carries the sense of joint/cooperate (as in 协作), and 定 means to fix or settle (as in 决定). A 协定 is something cooperatively settled: an agreed-upon pact. Compare 协议, a near-synonym for agreement.
定 — roof 宀 + 正 (correct/upright, phonetic)
Originally written with 宀 (roof) over 正 (upright/correct), suggesting a household settled and orderly under its roof. Over time 正 simplified to 㐬-like form at the bottom, and the meaning shifted from 'settled home' to the broader senses of 'fix, stable, decide.'