寄托
jì tuō · HSK 7
to entrust
🤲🌱 寄 send + 托 entrust = send-and-entrust: to place your hopes in someone's hands
寄 jì means to send or mail, 托 tuō means to support or hand over. Together they mean entrusting something to another, or investing your hopes and energy into a person or thing.
寄 — roof 宀 + strange 奇 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the roof radical 宀 suggests a dwelling or shelter, while 奇 (qí) supplies the sound, shifted to jì. The original sense was to lodge or stay temporarily under someone's roof, which extended to entrusting, depositing, and eventually sending or mailing things to another's care.
托 — hand radical 扌 + 乇 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 扌 (hand) gives the meaning—actions done with the hands like supporting, holding up, or entrusting—while 乇 supplies the sound. The original sense of physically holding something on the palm extended to figurative uses like 'entrust' or 'rely on'.