烧毁
shāo huǐ · HSK 7
to burn down
🔥 烧 (burn) + 毁 (destroy) = burn something down to ruin
烧 — fire radical 火 + 尧 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 火 'fire' gives the meaning 'to burn,' while 尧 (yáo) supplies the sound, shifted to shāo. The right side was simplified from 燒. Core sense 'burn' extended to cooking senses like 'roast' and 'braise.'
毁 — 臼 mortar + 工 work + 殳 weapon/strike
Originally depicted striking (殳) something in a mortar (臼) to break it apart, with 工 as a phonetic and semantic helper suggesting the action. The core image is of pounding or smashing, which extended from physical destruction to ruining, slandering, or defaming someone.