报答
bào dá · HSK 5
to repay
💰 报答 = 报 (report/repay) + 答 (answer); answering back what was given
报 carries the sense of repaying or reporting, and 答 means to answer or respond. Together they form the idea of answering a kindness — repaying someone for what they did for you.
报 — hand 扌 (报) + 卩 seal/kneeling figure
Originally 報 depicted a hand pressing a kneeling criminal under a manacle (幸 + 卩 + 又), meaning 'to judge' or 'requite a crime.' From 'repay/requite' it broadened to 'respond, report, announce.' The simplified form 报 keeps the hand 扌 and 卩 but drops the manacle element.
答 — bamboo radical 竹 + 合 (combine)
Originally written with the bamboo radical because answers were inscribed on bamboo slips. The phonetic 合 ('to join, match') gives both the sound and the sense of a reply 'matching' a question. Over time 答 came to mean 'answer' or 'respond' generally.