TSUMUGU · TOCFL 6 (est.) · 字
鄧
鄧 ＝ 登 ＋ 阝
ㄉㄥˋ · dèng
noun — an ancient state and place; a common surname (Deng)
字源 FORM — what the parts do
Tdēng → dèng — only the tone falls
阝義邑 — a walled settlement (the right-hand 阝)the 邑 form marks place names; on the left, 阝 would be 阜, a mound
The sound 登 (dēng, fallen to dèng) beside a settlement-mark (邑, the right-hand 阝) — a place name. 說文 records it as the state of the Man-surnamed clan, in what is now Nanyang. The state is long gone; the character survives almost entirely as the surname 鄧 (Deng Xiaoping, 鄧小平).
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
城邑（阝）的旁邊，立著一塊登（登）字的地界——鄧國。
Beside the walled town (阝) stands a marker reading 登 — the state of 鄧.
字源
意 · Meanings
(本義)鄧（古國名、地名）— the ancient state of Deng (in Nanyang)
→鄧（姓）— Deng, a surname常用
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension