调

調
diào
#400 most
frequent character
to transfer, to move (troops or cadres)

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

调 has 讠 speech as the meaning part and 周 zhōu as the sound part. Its first meaning was 'to mediate, harmonize, reconcile', though the sound link is unclear today. Read tiáo, it grew to 'average', 'mix', and 'adjust'; read diào, to 'exchange', 'reassign', 'tune, key, meter', 'tone, accent', and 'view'.

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Same Characters, Different Readings

调tiáo
suit well, mix, adjust, fit in perfectly

Homophones

HSK 4
掉diào
to fall, to drop, to lag behind
HSK 5
钓diào
to fish with a hook and bait

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