挽救
wǎn jiù · HSK 7
to save
🛟 挽 (pull back) + 救 (rescue) = pull someone back from the brink to save them
挽 means to pull or haul back; 救 means to rescue. Together: to pull a person or situation back from danger — to save or remedy it. Sound: wǎn jiù, like wahn-jyoh.
挽 — hand radical 扌 + 免 (miǎn, phonetic)
挽 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning 'to pull' or 'draw with the hand', while 免 supplies the sound (miǎn → wǎn). Originally meaning to pull or draw back, it extended to senses like 'to retrieve', 'to lament' (as in 挽歌, a funeral elegy), and 'to roll up' sleeves.
救 — 求 (seek/phonetic) + 攵 (strike/action)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The right side 攵 (a hand holding a stick) gives the action sense of intervening or stopping, while 求 supplies the sound 'jiu'. Originally meaning to halt or stop something bad, it extended to 'rescue, save, aid'.