What is the origin of the character 对/對? I've been studying the etymology of characters lately, and I'm stuck trying to figure out how 对/對 is formed.

It is apparently a compound of 丵 (zhuó; grass, bush) and 寸 (cùn; inch, thumb), plus an extra horizontal stroke at the bottom left of 對, which various sources have different explanations as coming from 口, 士, or 土.

Neither the modern nor Old Chinese pronunciations of 對 (/tuːbs/) resemble any of the possible components: 丵 (/zroːwɢ/), 寸 (/shuːns/), 口 (/kʰoːʔ/), 士 (/zrɯʔ/), 土 (/l̥ʰaːʔ/). This seems to indicate that 對 is not a phonosemantic compound (形声).

But it also doesn't seem to be an associative compound (会意) either, since none of the components seem to be related to any of the meanings of 對.

So how is 對 formed?
well, to make a reasonable guess; have a look of 漢語多功能字庫, please.

對 (u+5c0d) is a character since 甲骨文 (oracle bone script), which is composed by component "丵" (u+4e35), "土" (u+571f), &amp;  "又 - 手" (又 originally means right hand).

3 pictures of 對 in oracle bone script:



then, 丵 in small seal script (i can't find this one in oracle bone script at this moment)


土 in oracle bone script


又 - 手 in oracle bone script


the synopsis in this page is:

手持工具開闢土地


the initial meaning of 對 is "using hand (又 - 手) tools (丵) to develop land (土)".

later, in 金文 (bronze script), the form of 對 is slightly changed:


闢地分疆﹒植樹於土﹒立下地界


the meaning of 對 at this time is "planting tree along the boundary of the newly developed land"

with nowadays technology, one might think of "building a fence to protect an area" (e.g. set up barbed wire fence to encircle a farm)

then,

後假借為應對、應答之意


對 was "borrowed" to have the meaning of "response", "reply" or "answer"; which matches of the first two explanations in 國語辭典

http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cbdic/gsweb.cgi?o=dcbdic&amp;searchid=W00000002366

imo, chopping "對" into "業" &amp; "寸"; errh . . . . "off course" :(

imo, quoting "帝作邦作對" to support the above meaning is appealing.

here's the poem 皇矣 ( with James Legge's english translation)

作之屏之﹒其菑其翳
脩之平之﹒其灌其栵
啟之辟之﹒其檉其椐
攘之剔之﹒其檿其柘


verses in the second group is, opened up, made clearing in forest, paved the area. 

then, in third group:

帝省其山﹒柞棫斯拔﹒松柏斯兌


柞 has the meaning of "chop down trees"

帝作邦作對


邦 has the meaning of "planting tree as boundary", similar to 對. imo, "作邦作對" is rhetoric,  a "writing in pair". in modern chinese, we still have the saying: 作威作福, or, 作福作威

next, 業 is character since bronze script, which is a 象形字 (pictogram) of "rack for hanging bell, musical instruments". here're 2 samples of 業:


imo, 業 is, unlikely, derived from 對 or 丵.