The story of 話

saying, words

話 is composed of 言(ear) and 舌. 舌 in there is actually the simplified combination of 氏(surname) and 口(mouth), 氏 depicts a bowing man, which has the meaning of lowering, our mouth will be bigger if we lower it(chin). When we speak, we need to open our mouth widely. Annotation: The combination of 氏(surname) and 口(mouth) is an old HanZi, now it is no longer used, Shuowen Jiezi(說文解字) said this word means ‘stuffed mouth’, it is wrong.