座谈会
zuòtánhuì · HSK 6
an informal discussion meeting
🪑💬 sit + talk + meeting: a seated chat gathering
座 means seat/sit, 谈 means talk/discuss, 会 means meeting. Together they literally describe people sitting down for an informal discussion — a symposium or panel talk.
座 — 广 (shelter) + 坐 (to sit)
Originally written as 坐, meaning 'to sit' (two people 人人 sitting on the ground 土). The shelter radical 广 was added to specify the place where one sits — a seat, throne, or platform. 坐 remained the verb 'to sit,' while 座 became the noun 'seat.'
谈 — speech radical 讠 + flame 炎
谈 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (speech) gives the meaning, indicating something said or discussed. The right side 炎 (flame, blaze) originally suggested the phonetic value and evokes lively, animated talk — like words flowing in conversation.
会 — 人 person on top + 云 cloud/say below (simplified from 會)
The traditional form 會 showed a lid over a vessel with contents stacked inside, depicting things coming together — hence 'meet, gather, assemble.' From 'gathering' it extended to 'meeting,' then 'understand' (minds meeting) and 'be able to.' The simplified 会 keeps only a schematic top and bottom.