谱
pǔ · HSK 7
musical notation
🎼 谱 = 言 speech + 普 (pǔ, general); the 普 part hands over the pǔ sound
The 言 speech radical marks it as something written or set down, while 普 (pǔ, meaning general or widespread) is the phonetic part that lends the pǔ sound. Together: an ordered record like a music score, table, or chart.
谱 — speech radical 言 + 普 (pǔ, universal)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The speech radical 言 signals the meaning domain — words, records, or systematic listings — while 普 supplies the sound pǔ. Originally referring to a register or chronicle, it came to mean a manual, table, or musical score that lays things out systematically.