告诫
gào jiè · HSK 7
to admonish
⚠️ 告 = announce/tell + 诫 = caution/warn; both halves mean warn
告 carries the sense of formally telling or declaring; 诫 (with 言 speech radical) means to caution or admonish. Stacking two warning verbs intensifies the meaning into a stern warning or admonishment.
告 — ox 牛 (top) + mouth 口
Originally a pictograph showing an ox with something on its head, possibly a yoke or sacrificial marker, combined with 口 (mouth) to suggest announcing or reporting. The character came to mean 'to tell' or 'to announce,' as in making a formal declaration. Today it commonly appears in words like 告诉 (to tell) and 报告 (report).