問答
もんどう · mondou · JLPT N2 · noun
answer
💬 問 = ask + 答 = answer: 問答 = ask and answer back and forth
問 means ask and 答 means answer. Two words joined make a back-and-forth exchange, which is a dialogue.
答 — bamboo radical 竹 + 合 (combine)
Originally written with the bamboo radical because answers were inscribed on bamboo slips. The phonetic 合 ('to join, match') gives both the sound and the sense of a reply 'matching' a question. Over time 答 came to mean 'answer' or 'respond' generally.