还款
huán kuǎn · HSK 7
to pay back money
💸 还 (return/give back) + 款 (sum of money) = paying money back
还 huán means to return or give back; 款 kuǎn is a sum of money or funds. Together: returning the money you borrowed, i.e. repayment. Note 还 also reads hái meaning still/yet, but here the loan-context reading is huán.
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.