Two readings split by sense. 应 = should / ought to (modal, hypothetical): 应该, 应当. 应 = to respond / cope / apply (real action): 回应, 反应, 适应. Rule of thumb: if you can swap in 'should', it's yīng; if it names a real reply or fit, it's yìng.
memory
yīng for the ideal (level tone = aspiration); yìng for the act (falling tone = it lands). 应该 = the should-tone; 应用 = the doing-tone.
Outer indexing shelter radical 广 — pictures a roof leaning against a cliff. Carried over from traditional 應, where it housed the falconer's mews. Groups this char with 床, 店, 庆.
semantic
⺍xiǎo
three small strokes (graphic residue)
The three short strokes inside the shelter are a stylised remnant of traditional 應's interior — falcon-over-heart — compressed by the 1956 reform into this triple-stroke marker. Treat as a graphic abbreviation, not an independent pictograph.
Final horizontal closes the shape at the bottom — a stabilising base under the compressed interior. Not a separate semantic element; it visually anchors the simplified glyph and gives it the flat foundation typical of 1956-era reform shapes.
