返还
fǎn huán · HSK 7
restitution
🔙 fǎn huán = reverse + return — sending something back to its owner
返 means to reverse or go back, 还 means to return or give back. Together they form restitution — the act of returning something to where it belongs. Sounds a bit like fan-hwan, a fan blowing something back.
还 — 辶 (walk) + 不 (not) — phonetic
还 is the simplified form of 還. The traditional form combines the walking radical 辶 with 睘 (a phonetic element originally depicting an eye over a ring), suggesting 'to go around and return.' The simplified 还 keeps 辶 and replaces 睘 with 不 as a simpler phonetic. Core meaning: return, still, also.