破除
pò chú · HSK 7
to eliminate
🔨 破 break + 除 remove = break apart and clear away; to eliminate
破 (pò) is to break or smash; 除 (chú) is to remove or divide out. Together they mean to break something down and clear it out — get rid of it for good, like 破除迷信 to do away with superstition.
破 — stone 石 + skin/hide 皮
破 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 石 (stone) gives the meaning 'to break, smash,' since stones were used to crack things, while 皮 (pí) supplies the sound. The original sense of breaking stone broadened to mean 'broken,' 'damaged,' or 'to defeat.'
除 — left ear/mound 阝 + surplus 余
除 combines the 'mound/steps' radical 阝 (originally 阜, a hill) with 余 as the phonetic. It first meant the steps of a palace, then extended to 'remove' or 'clear away' (as one sweeps steps clean), and later to mathematical 'divide.'