奔赴
bēn fù · HSK 7
to rush to
🏃💨 奔 (run/gallop) + 赴 (go toward) = bolt to a destination
奔 carries the urgency of galloping; 赴 adds direction — heading somewhere specific. The combo implies dropping everything to get there fast, often used for crises or duty calls.
奔 — 大 (person) over 卉 (originally three 止 'feet')
Originally a pictograph of a person (大) running with multiple feet (three 止) shown below to convey rapid motion. Over time the feet were simplified into the form 卉. The character means to run fast, rush, or hurry.
赴 — 走 'walk/run' + phonetic 卜
A semantic-phonetic compound: 走 (run, hurry) gives the meaning of going somewhere quickly, while 卜 supplies the sound. Originally meant to rush toward or hasten to a place, and still carries that sense of going to attend something, as in 赴会 'attend a meeting'.