推翻
tuīfān · HSK 7
overturn
✋🔄 推 push + 翻 flip over = push something till it flips = overturn, topple
推 (tuī) is the push you do on a door; 翻 (fān) is to flip or turn over, same character as flipping a pancake. Push hard enough that it flips = topple a regime, reverse a verdict, repudiate a claim.
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'.
翻 — 番 (turn/sequence) + 羽 (feathers)
A semantic-phonetic compound. 羽 (feathers) gives the meaning, evoking a bird flipping or fluttering its wings, while 番 supplies the sound. From this 'flip over' sense it extended to 'turn over,' 'overturn,' and later 'translate' — that is, turning words from one language into another.