戒指
jiè zhi · HSK 7
ring
💍 戒 (guard/warn) + 指 (finger) = the thing guarding your finger: a ring
指 means finger, the same 指 as in 手指 (hand-finger). 戒 carries a sense of guard or restraint, so 戒指 reads as the band that rings the finger. Sound: jiè zhi, second syllable toneless.
戒 — 廾 (two hands) + 戈 (dagger-axe)
Originally a pictograph showing two hands holding up a dagger-axe, depicting a guard on alert. The core meaning was 'to be on guard' or 'to be vigilant,' which extended to 'warn,' 'prohibit,' and later 'abstain from' (as in religious precepts).
指 — hand radical 扌 + 旨 (zhǐ, phonetic)
指 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 gives the meaning — something done with the hand, namely pointing with a finger. 旨 supplies the sound 'zhǐ'. From 'finger' it naturally extended to the verb 'to point' and figurative senses like 'to indicate' or 'to refer to'.