占卜
zhān bǔ · HSK 7
to divine
🔮 占卜 = 占 read-the-omen + 卜 oracle-bone crack; both ancient ways to divine
卜 is the oldest character: it traces the shape of a crack burned into a tortoise shell or ox bone, read by diviners. 占 adds 口 (mouth) for speaking out what the crack foretells. Together they mean to divine.
占 — divination 卜 + mouth 口
Originally a pictograph showing a divination crack 卜 above a mouth 口, depicting someone speaking the result of an oracle reading. From this 'declare by divination' sense it broadened to 'occupy, take possession of' (now read zhàn) and 'divine, foretell' (read zhān).