开放
kāifàng · HSK 3
to bloom; to open
🔓 开 = open + 放 = release; together: open up, lift restrictions
开 means to open (a door, a gate); 放 means to release or let go. Combined, 开放 covers opening something up — a country opening its borders, a switch being turned on, or a ban being lifted.
开 — two hands 廾 + door 门 (open gate)
Originally written 開, showing two hands (廾) lifting the bar (一) off a gate (門) to open it. The simplified form 开 keeps the two-hands element and drops the gate. Core meaning 'to open' extended to 'start, operate, bloom'.
放 — 方 (square/phonetic) + 攵 (rap/strike radical)
放 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 方 supplies the sound and 攵 (a hand holding a stick) supplies the meaning of striking or driving away. The original sense was to banish or drive out, which broadened over time to 'release', 'let go', and 'put down'.