或许
huòxǔ · HSK 4
possibly
或 = perhaps + 许 = allow; together: maybe/perhaps
或 means 'perhaps/or' and 许 means 'allow/permit'. Combined, 或许 literally reads as 'perhaps-allowed', which captures the sense of 'possibly' or 'maybe' — something that could conceivably be the case.
或 — 戈 dagger-axe + 口 mouth/area + 一 boundary line
或 originally depicted a dagger-axe (戈) guarding a bounded territory (口 with 一), meaning 'country' or 'domain' — the ancestor of 國/国. Over time it was borrowed for the abstract sense 'perhaps, maybe, or,' so a new 囗 enclosure was added around it to write the original 'country' meaning.
许 — speech radical 讠 (言) + 午 (noon/phonetic)
许 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 讠 (speech) radical signals a meaning tied to spoken acts, while 午 supplies the sound. Its core senses — to permit, promise, or praise — all stem from things granted through words.