Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
等 has 𥫗 bamboo as its meaning part and 寺 chí as a sound part, though the sound link is not clear today. It first meant putting bamboo books in order. From 'neat, orderly' it grew to 'equal', 'grade', and 'to wait for'. The old sense 'serve, entertain' is now written 待.
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