劫
jié · HSK 7
to rob
💰🗡️ 劫 = 去 (go away) + 力 (force): use force to make wealth go away — to rob
The left side 去 means to leave or go, and the right side 力 means strength or force. Together they spell taking something away by force, which is what 劫 means: to rob, plunder, or seize. The sound jié also starts 劫匪 jiéfěi, a bandit.
劫 — 去 (qù, phonetic) + 力 (lì, strength)
劫 combines 去 'to go/remove' as the phonetic component with 力 'strength/force' as the semantic component. The original meaning is to take by force, hence 'rob' or 'plunder.' It later extended to mean 'calamity' or 'disaster,' and in Buddhist texts it transliterates the Sanskrit word 'kalpa,' a vast cosmic age.