侵犯
qīnfàn · HSK 6
violate
🚫⚖️ qīn (invade) + fàn (offend) = invade and offend someones rights
The first character 侵 means to encroach or invade. The second 犯 means to commit an offense. Together they form a legal-sounding pair: to trespass against someones protected rights or boundaries.
犯 — dog radical 犭 + 㔾 (kneeling person)
Originally a semantic-phonetic compound: the dog radical 犭 suggested an animal attacking, while 㔾 (a kneeling figure) hinted at the sound and the idea of submission or transgression. The meaning broadened from 'a beast attacking a person' to 'to violate, offend, commit (a crime),' giving modern senses like 'criminal' and 'to infringe.'