协议
xiéyì · HSK 5
agreement
🤝 协 = cooperate + 议 = discuss → an agreement reached by cooperative discussion
协 (xié) means to cooperate or assist; 议 (yì) means to discuss or deliberate. Together 协议 names what cooperative discussion produces: a formal agreement, protocol, or pact between parties.
议 — speech radical 讠 (言) + 义 (yì, righteousness)
议 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The speech radical 讠 (言) signals meaning related to talking, while 义 supplies the sound 'yì'. Together they convey discussing or deliberating—literally 'speech about what is right,' which fits its modern senses of 'discuss' and 'proposal.'