斩
zhǎn · HSK 7
to chop
🪓 斩 = 车 (cart) + 斤 (axe): an axe to the cart-bound condemned, a chop or beheading
The 斤 component is an axe/blade, the same one in 斧 (axe). 斩 zhǎn pairs that blade with 车, historically a method of execution; today it just means to chop or behead.
斩 — chariot 车 + axe 斤
Originally depicted execution by chariot-tearing or beheading with an axe — 车 (chariot) plus 斤 (axe). The character came to mean 'to chop, cut off, behead,' and by extension 'to sever decisively.' Modern uses keep this forceful sense, as in 斩断 (sever) and 斩首 (behead).