倒卖
dǎo mài · HSK 7
to resell at a profit
💰🔄 dao = topple/flip + mai = sell: flip goods for profit
倒 means to flip or reverse, 卖 means to sell. Together: flip-selling, buying low and reselling high. Think of a dealer who flips inventory — buys cheap, marks up, sells on.
倒 — person radical 亻 + 到 (to arrive)
倒 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the person radical 亻 gives meaning (an action done by/to a person), while 到 supplies the sound 'dào'. Originally meaning 'to fall over' (a person toppling), it extended to 'invert, upside down, pour out', as when something falls and spills.
卖 — top 十 + 买 (buy) below
卖 means 'to sell' and is the simplified form of 賣. Historically it pairs 出 (out) over 買 (buy), suggesting goods going out in exchange — the opposite of buying. The simplified shape keeps 买 (buy) underneath with 十 on top as a reduced marker.