强调
qiángdiào · HSK 3
place emphasis on
📢 强 (strong) + 调 (tune/tone) = strongly tune your voice = emphasize
强 means strong/forceful; 调 means tune, melody, or pitch. Together: to forcefully tune up a point — i.e. stress it, spotlight it, underscore it in speech or writing.
强 — bow 弓 + elong 㔾 + insect 虫
Originally written 強, depicting a type of strong-shelled insect or weevil, with 虫 (insect) as semantic and 弘 as phonetic. The meaning shifted from the insect's tough shell to the general sense of 'strong, powerful, forceful.' The form 强 is a common variant where 弘 is replaced by 弓+口.
调 — speech radical 讠(言) + 周 zhōu (phonetic)
调 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 讠(言) radical signals 'speech' or 'words,' while 周 supplies the sound. Originally meaning to harmonize or coordinate through words, it later extended to 'tune,' 'adjust,' and 'melody' (read diào), and 'mix evenly' or 'mediate' (read tiáo).