拟定
nǐdìng · HSK 7
formulate
📝 拟 draft + 定 fix = draft and fix it down = formulate a plan
拟 carries the sense of drafting or proposing; 定 means to settle or fix. Together: you draft something and pin it down, which is how you formulate or conjecture a plan.
拟 — hand radical 扌 + 疑 yí (doubt/phonetic)
拟 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 suggests an action, while 疑 supplies the sound. It originally meant to plan or draft by hand, and extended to 'imitate, compare, draw up.' 拟 is the simplified form of 擬.
定 — roof 宀 + 正 (correct/upright, phonetic)
Originally written with 宀 (roof) over 正 (upright/correct), suggesting a household settled and orderly under its roof. Over time 正 simplified to 㐬-like form at the bottom, and the meaning shifted from 'settled home' to the broader senses of 'fix, stable, decide.'