取暖
qǔ nuǎn · HSK 7
to warm oneself (by a fire etc)
🔥🧤 取 take + 暖 warm = take-warmth, i.e. to warm oneself by a fire
取 means to take or get; 暖 means warm. Together qǔ nuǎn is literally take-warmth: drawing warmth from a heat source like a fire or heater. The qu sound rhymes with the oo in cool, the opposite of what you seek.
取 — ear 耳 + hand 又
取 originally depicted a hand (又) grasping an ear (耳), referencing the ancient practice of soldiers cutting off enemies' left ears as proof of kills to claim rewards. The meaning broadened from 'seize/take by force' to the general sense of 'take, get, obtain' used today.
暖 — sun radical 日 + 爰 (yuán, phonetic)
暖 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 日 'sun' radical carries the meaning of warmth, while 爰 supplies the sound (historically close to 'nuǎn'). It originally described the warmth of sunlight and broadened to mean 'warm' in general — both physical heat and figurative warmth like kindness.