商讨
shāng tǎo · HSK 7
to discuss
💬 商 (consult, as in business) + 讨 (debate, seek) = consult-and-debate, i.e. discuss together
商 carries the sense of consulting or conferring (same 商 as in 商业 business); 讨 means to seek out or thrash out. Stack them and you get two people hashing a matter out: to deliberate. Note the falling-rising tones: shāng tǎo.
商 — 亠 lid + 丷 + 冏 window/enclosure
In oracle bone script 商 depicted a raised platform or altar-like structure, and it served as the name of the Shang dynasty and its capital region. The modern components are a late simplification of that pictograph and carry no separate meaning. The sense 'trade, merchant' arose later, traditionally linked to Shang people who travelled to buy and sell after their dynasty fell.
讨 — speech radical 讠 + inch 寸
A semantic-phonetic compound combining 讠 (speech) with 寸 (a hand/measure), suggesting demanding or seeking through words. The original sense was to denounce or punish verbally, which broadened over time to mean 'to demand,' 'to ask for,' and 'to discuss.' Modern uses like 讨论 (discuss) and 讨厌 (detest) reflect this range.