偏向
piān xiàng · HSK 7
partial towards sth
🧲 偏 lean-to-one-side + 向 toward = leaning toward, a bias
偏 means partial or off-center, 向 means direction or toward; together they mean inclining toward one side, hence a preference or, politically, a deviation from the correct line.
偏 — person radical 亻 + 扁 (flat/biǎn)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning side, while 扁 supplies the sound. Originally suggesting a person standing off to one side, it came to mean 'slanted,' 'inclined,' or 'one-sided,' and by extension 'biased' or 'partial.'
向 — roof 宀 + mouth 口
Originally a pictograph of a house with a north-facing window, showing an opening in a wall under a roof. The early meaning was 'north window,' which extended to 'the direction something faces,' then broadly to 'toward' or 'direction.' The modern shape simplified the window into 口.