演说
yǎnshuō · HSK 7
speech
🗣️🎤 演 perform + 说 speak = performing your speaking, i.e. a speech
演 carries the sense of perform or act out (as in 演出 performance), and 说 means to speak. A 演说 is speech delivered as a performance to an audience, hence speech or address. Sounds like yan-shwor.
演 — water 氵 + 寅 (yín, phonetic)
演 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the water radical 氵 gives the meaning, originally referring to water flowing far and spreading out, while 寅 supplies the sound. From 'water extending' it broadened to 'develop, elaborate, perform,' as in unfolding a story or acting out a play.
说 — speech radical 讠(言) + 兑
说 combines the speech radical 讠(言, 'words') with 兑, which acts as the phonetic component. The character originally meant 'to explain' or 'to speak,' and broadened to mean 'say' or 'talk.' The same graph is also read 'yuè' meaning 'pleased,' a sense later written 悦.