担当
たんとう · tantou · JLPT N3 · noun
charge
📋 担当 = shoulder (担) + assigned (当): the job is on your shoulders
担 means to carry on the shoulder, as in 負担 (burden). 当 means to be assigned or on duty, as in 当番 (turn on duty). Together: the task assigned for you to carry. 担当者 is the person in charge.
担 — hand radical 扌 + 詹 (zhān, phonetic)
担 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 扌 (hand) gives the meaning of carrying or shouldering, while 詹 supplies the sound. Originally written 擔, it depicted bearing a load on a shoulder pole; 担 is the simplified form. Meanings extended from physical carrying to bearing responsibility.
当 — small ⺌ + crown 冖 + hand 彐 (simplified from 當: 尚 + 田)
Originally written 當, combining 田 'field' with 尚 as a phonetic. The early sense was 'to match' or 'face' a field of equal value, extended to 'correspond to', 'ought to', and 'serve as'. The simplified form 当 streamlines the upper 尚 component.