Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
当 is a short form of 當, 尚 shàng plus 田 field, first meaning 'fields in a row'. Meanings grew to 'face', 'match', 'serve a duty', 'use as'. Read dàng, it gives 'appropriate', 'same', 'collateral', 'pawn' and 'treat as same'. The 'ding-dong' sense was borrowed for sound.
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