劝告
quàn gào · HSK 7
to advise
🗣️ 劝 (urge) + 告 (tell) = telling someone what to do for their own good = advise
Both halves are speech acts: 劝 is the urging, 告 is the telling. Stack them and you get earnest advice or exhortation. The gào here is the same 告 as in 告诉 (to tell).
劝 — 又 (hand) + 力 (strength), simplified from 勸
The traditional form 勸 combines 雚 (a heron, providing the sound) with 力 (strength), suggesting using effort to persuade. In simplification, 雚 was replaced with 又 (hand), keeping 力 for the meaning of exerting effort to urge or advise someone.
告 — ox 牛 (top) + mouth 口
Originally a pictograph showing an ox with something on its head, possibly a yoke or sacrificial marker, combined with 口 (mouth) to suggest announcing or reporting. The character came to mean 'to tell' or 'to announce,' as in making a formal declaration. Today it commonly appears in words like 告诉 (to tell) and 报告 (report).