根治
gēn zhì · HSK 7
to effect a radical cure
🌱✂️ 根 root + 治 cure = cure at the root
根 means root and 治 means to treat or govern. Together they describe treating a problem at its root — a permanent fix rather than a surface patch. Used for curing diseases and for stamping out social ills like corruption.
根 — tree radical 木 + 艮 (phonetic)
根 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 木 ('tree') gives the meaning, since the character originally referred to the roots of a tree. The right side 艮 supplies the sound. From 'tree root' it extended to mean 'root, base, foundation' in general.
治 — water radical 氵 + 台 (phonetic)
治 originally referred to the name of a river, written with the water radical 氵 for meaning and 台 as the phonetic component. From 'managing rivers' (flood control), the meaning broadened to 'govern, regulate, manage,' and later 'cure, heal' — all senses of bringing something unruly under control.