好比
hǎobǐ · HSK 7
like
⚖️ 好 good + 比 compare = compares (well) to, i.e. is just like
好比 pairs 好 (good) with 比 (compare, the verb in 比较 to compare). Read it as compares-to: used to draw an analogy, the way English says A is just like B.
好 — woman 女 + child 子
好 is an associative compound showing a woman 女 beside a child 子, depicting a mother with her baby. From this image of maternal affection it came to mean 'good, fine, pleasing.' The reading hǎo means 'good'; read hào it means 'to like.'
比 — two 匕 (person) side by side
比 is a pictograph showing two people standing side by side, facing the same direction. From this image of paired figures came the core meaning 'to compare' or 'to be next to,' since comparing things naturally involves placing them alongside each other.