淘汰
táotài · HSK 7
weed out
⛏️🏅 both halves carry the water radical 氵; like panning for gold, you wash away the worthless and keep the good
淘 means to pan or wash (as rice or gold), 汰 means to wash away the excess. Together: eliminate the weak through selection, the way a sieve rinses out everything that fails the test.
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).