危险
wéixiǎn · HSK 3
dangerous
⚠️ 危险 = danger + risk; both characters mean peril, doubled for emphasis
危 (wēi) alone means danger or precarious; 险 (xiǎn) means risky or hazardous terrain. Chinese often pairs two near-synonyms to form a stable compound, so 危险 reads as danger-risk = dangerous.
险 — 阝(阜, mound) + 佥 (qiān, all/together)
Originally written 險 in traditional form, this is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 阝 (mound/hill) radical signals the original meaning of steep, dangerous terrain, while 佥 provided the sound. From rugged cliffs the meaning extended metaphorically to 'danger' and 'risk' in general.