to tread

to stamp; to step on; to press a pedal; to investigate on the spot

foot (足) + phonetic (沓) = to tread or step on

足 grounds the meaning firmly in the foot and its actions — treading, stepping, pressing. 沓 mainly contributes the sound tà; the foot radical does the semantic work.

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LayeredPhonetic
FootSemantic

上了回家的路。

tā tà shàng le huí jiā de lù。

He stepped onto the road home.

我们明天去勘一下那块地。

wǒ men míng tiān qù tà kān yī xià nà kuài dì。

We will go and investigate that plot of land on the spot tomorrow.

Words with 踏

飞鸿踏雪

fēi hóng tà xuě

see 雪泥鴻爪|雪泥鸿爪[xue3 ni2 hong2 zhao3]

制动踏板

zhì dòng tà bǎn

brake pedal

加速踏板

jiā sù tà bǎn

accelerator pedal

原地踏步

yuán dì tà bù

to mark time (military)

大踏步

dà tà bù

in big strides

弱音踏板

ruò yīn tà bǎn

soft pedal (on piano)

强音踏板

qiáng yīn tà bǎn

loud pedal (on piano)

挤踏

jǐ tà

stampede

机器脚踏车

jī qì jiǎo tà chē

(dialect) motorcycle

机踏车

jī tà chē

motorcycle (Tw)

步斗踏罡

bù dǒu tà gāng

to worship the astral deities (idiom, refers to Daoist astrology)

步罡踏斗

bù gāng tà dǒu

to worship the astral deities (idiom, refers to Daoist astrology)

More characters with 足