留下
liúxià · HSK 2
leave behind
📌 留 = stay/remain + 下 = down/below → stay behind, leave behind
Compound: 留 (liú) means remain or keep; 下 (xià) means down or below. Together they mean to stay put, to leave something behind, or to set aside. The 下 adds a sense of settling down or being left in place.
留 — 卯 (top) + 田 (field)
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 田 (field) suggests staying on the land, with 卯 hinting at the sound. Over time it came to mean 'remain, stay, keep,' as in keeping someone on the land or holding something in place. Modern uses include 留学 (study abroad) and 保留 (retain).
下 — horizontal line 一 + mark below
下 is an indicative character: a long horizontal line represents a reference level, and a shorter stroke placed beneath it points to the area below. The original meaning 'below, down' comes directly from this spatial diagram, and it later extended to verbs like 'descend' and 'lower'.