核实
hé shí · HSK 7
to verify
✅🔍 核 examine + 实 real/true = examine the truth = to verify
核 carries the sense of checking or examining (as in 审核), and 实 means real or actual. Together: examine whether something is real, i.e. to verify or check facts. Sounds like huh-shir.
核 — wood 木 + 亥 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 木 ('wood/tree') gives the meaning, while 亥 supplies the sound. It originally referred to a hard-shelled fruit pit or kernel inside wood/fruit, then extended figuratively to 'core,' 'nucleus,' and in modern usage 'nuclear' (as in atomic nucleus).