调 (diào): to transfer; to reassign (perso…

Meanings

1 to transfer; to reassign (personnel, troops)
2 to investigate; to look into
3 tone; melody; key (music)
4 tone of voice; accent; intonation

Characters

调

diào

to transfer; to reassign (personnel, troops)

Examples

HSK 3

公司把他调到上海工作。

Gōngsī bǎ tā diào dào Shànghǎi gōngzuò.

The company transferred him to work in Shanghai.

HSK 4

这首歌的调很高，我唱不上去。

Zhè shǒu gē de diào hěn gāo, wǒ chàng bù shàngqù.

This song's key is really high - I can't reach it.

HSK 7-9

警方正在调查这起案件。

Jǐngfāng zhèngzài diàochá zhè qǐ ànjiàn.

The police are investigating this case.

Tips

usage

diào covers two unrelated-looking senses that share one character: (1) moving people or resources around - 调动, 调查, 调度 - and (2) musical or speech tone - 调子, 音调, 声调. The transfer sense came from 'select and call up an official'; the tone sense from 'pitch a sound to a specific level.'

memory

Mnemonic for the split: tiáo = tweak (you tweak a recipe, tweak a dispute into peace, tweak the air-con). diào = dial (you dial a soldier in from another unit, dial into an investigation, dial in the right musical key). Same starting consonants as the readings.

Components

radical

讠 yán

speech; words

Left speech radical, contracted from 言. The original sense was tuning words to harmonize a conversation; from that came musical tone (the diào reading) and the broader idea of adjusting or mixing. Same family as 说 (speak), 谈 (chat), 谢 (thank).

phonetic

周 zhōu

circle; cycle

Right 周 supplies the sound - zhōu drifted to tiáo and diào in this phonetic family (compare 雕, 凋). Its own meaning of completeness or full cycle adds a faint flavor of bringing things into balance, but the role is principally phonetic.