塔
tǎ · HSK 6
pagoda
🗼 tǎ sounds like tower — earth (土) stacked in layers (合)
The left radical 土 means earth or soil, the building material. The right side includes 合 (together, combine), suggesting layers joined on top of each other — exactly how a pagoda is built, tier upon tier.
塔 — earth 土 + grass 艹 + 合
塔 is a phono-semantic compound. The earth radical 土 on the left signals the meaning, since pagodas and towers are built structures rising from the ground. The right side 荅 (a kind of bean) supplies the sound. The character was coined in medieval China to translate Sanskrit 'stūpa,' the Buddhist reliquary tower.