马达 (mǎ dá) — motor, engine

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 馬; 马 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 馬 shows a horse with its head facing left, a flowing mane, and two legs standing vertically.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This form 达 pairs 辶 (written in full as 辵) with 大 as a sound component.