說 - Dong Chinese dictionary

shuō, shuì

speak

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 兌 represents the sound.

Components

言 Meaning component

yán

speech

兌 Sound component

duì

exchange

說 and 兌 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.說 /*l̥ot-s/, /*l̥ot/, /*lot/
兌 /*lˤot-s/, /*lˤot-s/

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

说 (說)

shuō

speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid; to speak; to say; to explain; to scold; to tell off; a theory (typically the last character in a compound, as in 日心說|日心说 heliocentric theory)

说 (說)

shuì

to persuade

Most common words with 說