暂停
zhàntíng · HSK 5
suspend
⏸️ 暂 = temporary + 停 = stop; together: a temporary stop = pause
暂 (zàn) means temporary or briefly, and 停 (tíng) means to stop or halt. Combined, 暂停 literally reads as temporary-stop, the standard word for pause, suspend, or intermit.
暂 — 斩 (zhǎn, phonetic) + 日 (sun/day, semantic)
暂 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The bottom 日 (sun/day) supplies the meaning, since the word concerns time, while the top 斩 (zhǎn, 'to cut') gives the sound. The original sense was a brief, cut-off span of time, which became today's meaning of 'temporarily' or 'for a short while.'
停 — person 亻 + pavilion 亭
A semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning, while 亭 (pavilion, also pronounced tíng) supplies the sound. The image is of a person stopping at a roadside pavilion to rest, which yields the modern senses 'to stop, halt, park.'