催眠
cuīmián · HSK 7
hypnotize
😴🌀 催 = urge/press + 眠 = sleep — pressing someone into sleep
The first character 催 means to urge or push, and 眠 means sleep. Together they literally mean 'push into sleep' — which is exactly what hypnosis does. cuī sounds like 'cooee,' a call that lulls you, and mián rhymes with 'me on' a pillow.
催 — person 亻 + 崔 (cuī, phonetic)
催 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The person radical 亻 gives the meaning, since urging or hurrying is something one person does to another, while 崔 supplies the sound 'cui'. The original sense was to press or push someone to act, which broadened to today's meaning of urging, hastening, or prompting.