危急
wēi jí · HSK 7
critical
🚨 危 danger + 急 urgent = a danger that is urgent: critical, desperate
危 carries the danger sense (as in 危险), 急 means urgent or anxious (as in 急忙). Stacked together they describe a situation that is both dangerous and urgent — a critical, desperate state.
急 — heart radical 心 + 及 (reach)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the heart radical 心 supplies the meaning (an emotional state) while 及 ('to reach, catch up') gives the sound. Originally it depicted a racing, anxious heart — hence the modern senses 'urgent,' 'hurried,' and 'impatient.'