託

Phono-semantic compound consisting of:

言 (말씀 언) — semantic component, meaning speech, words, or communication, indicating that the act involves verbal request or entrustment.

乇 (탁) — phonetic component, giving the sound tuō / tak and meaning to support, to rely on, or to lean against.

Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字):

「託，寄也。从言，乇聲。」

“託 means to entrust or to lodge with. Formed from 言 (‘speech’) and phonetic 乇.”

Thus, 託 originally signified to make a verbal request of reliance — literally, “to speak and rest upon someone else’s support.”

The phonetic 乇 (originally depicting a plant sprout resting on soil) contributes the sense of “leaning on or resting upon,” reinforcing the meaning of entrusting or depending on.

The semantic field of 託 encompasses two core ideas:

Entrustment — a formal or heartfelt act of giving responsibility or safekeeping to another.

Excuse or pretext — a figurative sense derived from “placing responsibility on something else,” hence making an excuse or shifting blame.

In both cases, the underlying image is the same: to place one’s words, duties, or burdens onto another.

委託 (위탁) — to entrust; to delegate responsibility

信託 (신탁) — trust; entrusted funds or duty

寄託 (기탁) — to consign; to deposit or entrust (esp. emotions or possessions)

託人 (탁인) — agent; one entrusted with a task

託名 (탁명) — to use another’s name; to act under a false name

託病 (탁병) — to feign illness as a pretext

託辭 (탁사) — excuse; justification; pretext

依託 (의탁) — to depend upon; to rely on

託付 (탁부) — to entrust (a matter, object, or person)

In classical usage, 託 often appears in both personal and moral contexts — from entrusting valuables or messages to entrusting one’s ideals or fate.

In the Book of Rites (禮記), the idea of 託於人 — placing trust or responsibility in another person — was regarded as an act requiring sincerity and propriety.

Entrusting one’s affairs or children after death was one of the gravest moral decisions, symbolizing absolute faith in another’s virtue.

In Daoist and literary contexts, 寄託 (기탁) developed a metaphorical sense: to entrust one’s feelings, thoughts, or ideals to poetry, art, or nature.

「詩者，寄託之文也。」 (Wenxin Diaolong, 文心雕龍)

“Poetry is the literature in which one’s inner being is entrusted.”

This notion of art as moral or emotional entrustment became central in East Asian literary aesthetics.

Cultural and symbolic meaning:

託 expresses an act of faith, dependence, and transmission — to give one’s burden or meaning into the hands (or heart) of another.

It carries both vulnerability and dignity: to entrust is to yield control, but also to affirm trust.

In Confucian ethics, 託 is linked with 信 (trustworthiness) — the moral bond between speaker and listener, giver and receiver.

To be worthy of others’ entrustment was a mark of character; to betray it, a grave moral failing.

In Buddhist and Daoist writings, 託 further gained metaphysical nuance — to entrust oneself to the Dao, or to the compassion of the Buddhas, becoming a symbol of spiritual reliance and surrender.

From legal trust to poetic expression, 託 embodies the timeless human act of placing confidence, meaning, or responsibility in another — whether a person, an idea, or the unseen order of the world.