推动
tuīdòng · HSK 3
promote
👉 推 = push (hand 扌 + 隹 bird) + 动 = move; together: push-move = push forward
推 means push (hand radical 扌 acting on 隹 short-tailed bird). 动 means move or action. Combined, 推动 literally reads push-move, used for pushing something forward or promoting an idea.
推 — hand radical 扌 + 隹 (short-tailed bird)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning 'to push' or act with the hand, while 隹 supplies the sound (originally close to 'tui'). The core sense has stayed remarkably stable, expanding from physical pushing to figurative uses like 'recommend' or 'infer'.
动 — force 力 + heavy/重 (simplified from 動)
The traditional form 動 combines 重 (heavy) as the phonetic with 力 (force/strength) as the semantic, suggesting the effort needed to move something heavy. The simplified form 动 replaces 重 with 云, keeping 力 to convey action and motion.