亏损
kuī sǔn · HSK 7
loss
📉 亏 (loss/deficient) + 损 (damage/decrease) = a shortfall, money lost
Both characters mean loss, so 亏损 doubles down on the idea: a financial deficit where what comes out exceeds what comes in. 损 also shows up in 损失 (sǔnshī), another word for loss.
亏 — top stroke 一 + 丂 (hooked breath)
亏 is the simplified form of 虧. Originally 丂 depicted breath or air being exhaled with difficulty, suggesting something lacking or deficient. Over time it came to mean 'lose,' 'deficit,' or 'owe,' as in being short of what is needed.
损 — hand 扌 + 员 (yuán, phonetic)
损 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 carries the meaning of an action done by hand, while 员 supplies the sound. Originally it referred to reducing or diminishing something by hand, which broadened to the modern senses of 'damage,' 'loss,' and 'harm.'