淘气
táo qì · HSK 7
naughty
🐵 淘气 = 淘 scour/stir-up + 气 temper → a kid all stirred-up energy and cheek
淘 carries the sense of churning or stirring things up, and 气 is air or temper; together they label a child whose temper is constantly churning, i.e. mischievous. The monkey is the stock Chinese byword for this restless, rule-breaking streak.
淘 — water radical 氵 + pottery 匋
淘 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The water radical 氵 gives the meaning, since the original sense was to wash or rinse something (like rice or gold) in water. The right side 匋 (a jar/pottery shape) supplies the sound, and over time the word extended to 'sift out' and 'naughty' (as in 淘气).
气 — steam/vapor radical 气
Originally a pictograph of rising vapor or clouds drifting in the sky, depicting curling streams of air. The character came to mean breath, air, and by extension vital energy or 'qi.' The simplified form 气 keeps the original outline; the traditional 氣 added 米 (rice) to suggest steam rising from cooking grain.