This factory specializes in enamel-coating basins and iron pots.
Tips
usage
Two senses to keep separate. (1) 搪塞 'to fob off / give a perfunctory answer' - the most common compound, where 搪 means 'to fend off'. (2) 搪瓷 'enamelware' - here 搪 means 'to coat with enamel'. Both come from the core idea of 'spreading a layer to block something'.
Side-hand radical on the left - heads the hand-action family (推 push, 挡 block, 抵 resist). Marks 搪 as a physical fending-off, the open palm or forearm warding away an oncoming blow. The expression 搪塞 'to fob off' keeps the hand-stopping image even when the obstacle is abstract.
Right 唐 supplies the sound - táng = táng, no shift. 唐 originally meant 'big, boastful talk' (mouth under a shed), surviving in 荒唐 'absurd.' Its grand-talk flavour bleeds into 搪 only through 搪塞: deflecting with empty words rather than honest answers.
