词
cí · HSK 2
word
📖 词 = 讠(speech) + 司(manage) — managed speech, i.e. words
The 讠 radical marks speech-related characters; 司 means to manage or take charge. Together: speech put in order — vocables, phrases, lyrics. Also names a Tang/Song lyric-poetry form set to music.
词 — speech radical 讠 (言) + 司 sī (phonetic)
词 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (simplified form of 言 'speech/words') gives the meaning, marking it as something related to language. The right side 司 supplies the sound, originally close to 'sī/cí'. Together it came to mean 'word', 'phrase', or a lyric/poem form.