響

A phono-semantic compound:

音 (“sound, tone”) provides the semantic element.

鄕/鄉 (hyang, “village, countryside”) provides the phonetic element.

Used literally for physical echoes, and figuratively for responses or influence.

迴響 (회향) – echo, reverberation;

反響 (반향) – repercussion, response, public reaction;

響應 (향응) – to respond, to answer;

餘響 (여향) – lingering sound, aftersound;

共鳴響 (공명향) – resonance, sympathetic vibration.

In literature, 響 can symbolize fame or influence (the “echo” of one’s deeds).

In Korean and Japanese, compounds with 響 are still common in both the literal acoustic sense and metaphorical “response” sense.

Note that Japanese shinjitai replaces 鄉 with 郷, dropping the top stroke on 良 and instead drawing 艮.

The Korean form replaces 鄉 with 鄕, with 皀 in the middle instead of 良.

Due to Han unification, Chinese, Japanese and Korean forms are encoded under the same code point.

Two unicode z-variants exist. U+FA69 corresponds to its Kangxi Dictionary form, which is also the kyūjitai form while U+FACA corresponds to its shinjitai form.