拖累
tuō lěi · HSK 7
to be a burden on
⛓️ 拖 drag + 累 tired = dragging others down till they're worn out: a burden
拖 means to drag or pull, 累 means tired or burdened. Together: you drag someone along until they are exhausted, encumbering or implicating them in your trouble.
拖 — hand radical 扌 + 它 (tā, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 carries the meaning, indicating an action done with the hand—pulling or dragging. The right side 它 (originally depicting a snake) supplies the sound. Together 拖 came to mean 'to drag, pull, or haul.'
累 — field 田 on top + silk 糸 below
Originally written with multiple 田 stacked, depicting piled-up fields or bundles, suggesting accumulation. Later simplified to one 田 over 糸 (silk threads), reinforcing the idea of threads tied together in heaps. From 'pile up' came the senses 'burden,' 'tired,' and 'involve.'