翻译
fānyì · HSK 4
translate
🔄 翻 = flip/turn over + 译 = interpret; flip speech into another tongue
翻 originally meant to flip or turn over (think pages); 译 carries the sense of interpreting or rendering between languages. Together they mean to flip words from one language into another — to translate.
翻 — 番 (turn/sequence) + 羽 (feathers)
A semantic-phonetic compound. 羽 (feathers) gives the meaning, evoking a bird flipping or fluttering its wings, while 番 supplies the sound. From this 'flip over' sense it extended to 'turn over,' 'overturn,' and later 'translate' — that is, turning words from one language into another.
译 — speech radical 讠 + 睪 (phonetic)
译 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (speech) signals meaning related to language, while 睪 supplies the sound. Originally referring to interpreters who relayed speech between peoples, it now means to translate or interpret.