谈起
tánqǐ · HSK 7
talk about
💬 谈 talk + 起 up = to bring up, talk up a topic in conversation
谈起 stacks 谈 (to talk) onto 起 (to rise or start up); together they mean a topic rises into the talk, so you bring it up or mention it. The 起 adds the start-of-action sense: the moment a subject gets raised.
谈 — speech radical 讠 + flame 炎
谈 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (speech) gives the meaning, indicating something said or discussed. The right side 炎 (flame, blaze) originally suggested the phonetic value and evokes lively, animated talk — like words flowing in conversation.
起 — 走 (run) + 己 (self/phonetic)
起 combines 走 'run/walk' as the meaning component with 己 as the phonetic component. The 走 element suggests movement of the body, giving the core sense of rising up or starting to move. From there it extended to meanings like 'get up,' 'begin,' and 'arise.'