塔
tǎ
pagoda (abbr. for 塔婆[ta3 po2], a loanword from Sanskrit stūpa); tower; pylon (CL:座[zuo4])
(loanword) (pastry) tart; old variant of 塔[ta3]
earth (土) + sound (荅) = a tower rising from the ground
荅 lends the sound tǎ; the earth radical (土) grounds the meaning, evoking a structure built up from the land. Towers and pagodas rise from the earth, so the semantic link feels natural even if the character was coined to transliterate a foreign word.
公园里有一座古老的塔。
gōng yuán lǐ yǒu yī zuò gǔ lǎo de tǎ。
There is an ancient pagoda in the park.
那座塔建于一千年前，每年吸引很多游客。
nà zuò tǎ jiàn yú yī qiān nián qián，měi nián xī yǐn hěn duō yóu kè。
That tower was built a thousand years ago and attracts many visitors every year.
Words with 塔
泽塔
zé tǎ
zeta (Greek letter Ζζ)
塔吉克斯坦
tǎ jí kè sī tǎn
Tajikistan
水塔
shuǐ tǎ
water tower
塔那那利佛
tǎ nà nà lì fó
Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar
伊塔
yī tǎ
eta (Greek letter Η, η)
肯塔基
kěn tǎ jī
Kentucky, US state
炮塔
pào tǎ
gun turret
卡塔尔
kǎ tǎ ěr
Qatar
塔利班
tǎ lì bān
the Taliban, Islamist organization that emerged in the mid-1990s in Afghanistan
塔里木
tǎ lǐ mù
the Tarim Basin in southern Xinjiang
金塔
jīn tǎ
see 金塔縣|金塔县[Jin1 ta3 Xian4]
雷峰塔
léi fēng tǎ
Leifeng Pagoda, by West Lake until it was destroyed (also from Madam White Snake)