按照
ànzhào · HSK 3
according to
📋 按照 = 按 (press/according to) + 照 (shine/follow)
按 carries the sense of pressing down or pressing against a standard, and 照 means to shine on or to follow a pattern. Together they form a two-syllable preposition meaning to act in accordance with some rule or plan.
按 — hand radical 扌 + 安 (peace)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 gives the meaning, indicating an action done with the hand, while 安 (ān, peace) supplies the sound. The original sense was to press down with the hand, which extended to meanings like 'to push,' 'to restrain,' and figuratively 'according to.'
照 — 昭 (bright) phonetic + 灬 (fire radical)
照 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The bottom 灬 is a variant of 火 'fire', giving the meaning of light or illumination, while 昭 'bright' on top supplies the sound 'zhào' and reinforces the brightness sense. It originally meant to shine light on something, later extending to 'reflect', 'photograph', and 'according to'.