话题
huàtí · HSK 3
subject of a talk
💬 话 = speech + 题 = topic; the subject people speak about
话 (huà) means speech or talk; 题 (tí) means topic or subject (same 题 as in 问题 question). Together: the topic of a conversation — a talking point or theme.
话 — speech radical 讠 (言) + tongue 舌
话 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (simplified from 言, 'speech') gives the meaning, signaling something said, while 舌 ('tongue') hints at the sound and reinforces the speaking sense. The traditional form 話 makes the 言 element explicit; today 话 means 'speech, talk, words.'
题 — page radical 頁 + 是 (phonetic)
题 is a phono-semantic compound. The right side 是 gives the sound (shì→tí), while the left 頁 (simplified 页, 'head/page') carries the meaning, since titles and topics were written at the top of a page. Original sense was 'forehead,' later extended to 'title, topic, problem.'