敲边鼓
qiāo biān gǔ · HSK 7
to support sb in an argument
🥁 敲边鼓 = beat (敲) + side (边) + drum (鼓): you drum from the sidelines to back someone up
敲 — 高 (tall) phonetic + 攴/攵 (strike) semantic
敲 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The right side 攴 (also written 攵) shows a hand holding a stick, giving the meaning 'to strike' or 'to knock.' The left side 高 'tall' supplies the sound. Together they depict the action of knocking or rapping on something.
边 — 辶 (walk) + 臱 (phonetic)
边 is the simplified form of 邊. It combines the walking radical 辶 with the phonetic component 臱, suggesting a place reached by walking — the edge or border of a territory. The meaning extended from 'frontier' to 'side' or 'edge' in general.
鼓 — 壴 (drum on stand) + 攴 (hand with stick)
鼓 is a pictograph showing a drum mounted on a stand (壴) being struck by a hand holding a stick (攴/支). It originally depicted the act of beating a drum, and the meaning naturally extended from the instrument itself to the verb 'to beat, to rouse, to encourage.'