投票
tóupiào · HSK 6
to vote; to cast a vote
🗳️ 投票 = throw + ticket — you throw your ticket into the ballot box
投 means throw or toss, 票 means ticket or slip. Voting is literally tossing your ticket in. The same 票 appears in 机票 (plane ticket) and 门票 (entry ticket).
投 — hand radical 扌 + weapon 殳
Originally a pictograph of a hand (扌) throwing or hurling a weapon or staff (殳). The core meaning 'to throw, cast, hurl' extended over time to figurative senses like 'to invest,' 'to deliver,' or 'to throw oneself into' something.
票 — fire 火 (bottom) + 覀 (cover/west)
Originally written with 火 (fire) below 覀, depicting sparks or embers rising from a fire. The early meaning was 'flying sparks' or 'light, floating thing.' Over time it shifted to mean a slip of paper, ticket, or note — something light and easily passed around.