分赃
fēn zāng · HSK 7
to share the booty
💰🔪 分 (divide) + 赃 (stolen goods) = splitting the loot
赃 specifically means ill-gotten property or stolen goods. So 分赃 is literally dividing up the dirty money or stolen loot among accomplices after a crime.
分 — knife 刀 + eight 八 (split apart)
分 originally depicted a knife (刀) cutting something into two parts, shown by 八 above (which itself meant 'divide'). The core sense is 'to divide' or 'split', from which extended meanings like 'portion', 'minute', and 'part' developed. Pronounced fèn, it carries the sense of an allotted share.