树
shù · HSK 1
tree
🌳 Sounds like 'shoo' — shoo a bird off the tree
树 (shù) means tree. The right side 对 hints at a hand holding/planting; the 木 radical on the left is the wood/tree component, so 树 = wood + planting-hand = a planted tree.
树 — wood 木 + 對 (phonetic, simplified to 对)
树 originally combined 木 'tree' with 尌, suggesting planting something upright. The right side served mainly as a phonetic clue, while 木 carried the meaning. Over time it came to mean both 'tree' and the verb 'to plant' or 'establish'.