對

Related characters

 * (Japanese )

Glyph origin
In the oracle bone and bronze scripts, it was an. The original meaning of the character is unclear, but it may be “to develop (land)”. It was later borrowed for “to reply”. Compare,.

In the seal script, has become the related.  has two seal script forms for this character: (main form) and  (alternative form). The main form, which has a, was probably created to specialize the character to signify “to reply”, but this form was not inherited in later scripts. Shuowen interprets the latter form (shown above) as a form that created by replacing  with  because many of the replies were untruthful (just lip service), but it is more likely that  is a corruption of.

Etymology
Exoactive of.

Definitions

 * 1) correct; true; right
 * 2) to treat; to deal with; to take on
 * 3)  towards; to
 * 4) to; with regard to; concerning
 * 5) according to; for
 * 6) opposite; opposing
 * 7) to face
 * 8) paired; contrasting
 * 9) to suit; to fit
 * 10) to match; to cause two things to match
 * 11) to respond; to answer
 * 12) to check by comparing; to verify by comparing
 * 13) to adjust; to set
 * 14) to mix; to add
 * 15) to divide in half
 * 16) couplet
 * 17) pair
 * 18)   from
 * 1) according to; for
 * 2) opposite; opposing
 * 3) to face
 * 4) paired; contrasting
 * 5) to suit; to fit
 * 6) to match; to cause two things to match
 * 7) to respond; to answer
 * 8) to check by comparing; to verify by comparing
 * 9) to adjust; to set
 * 10) to mix; to add
 * 11) to divide in half
 * 12) couplet
 * 13) pair
 * 14)   from
 * 1) paired; contrasting
 * 2) to suit; to fit
 * 3) to match; to cause two things to match
 * 4) to respond; to answer
 * 5) to check by comparing; to verify by comparing
 * 6) to adjust; to set
 * 7) to mix; to add
 * 8) to divide in half
 * 9) couplet
 * 10) pair
 * 11)   from
 * 1) to respond; to answer
 * 2) to check by comparing; to verify by comparing
 * 3) to adjust; to set
 * 4) to mix; to add
 * 5) to divide in half
 * 6) couplet
 * 7) pair
 * 8)   from
 * 1) to adjust; to set
 * 2) to mix; to add
 * 3) to divide in half
 * 4) couplet
 * 5) pair
 * 6)   from
 * 1) pair
 * 2)   from
 * 1) pair
 * 2)   from
 * 1) pair
 * 2)   from
 * 1)   from
 * 1)   from
 * 1)   from

Descendants
Others:

Kanji

 * 1) correct, right
 * 2) facing, opposed

Etymology
From.