离婚
líhūn · HSK 3
divorce
💔 离婚 = 离 (leave) + 婚 (marriage)
离 means to leave or part from; 婚 means marriage or wedding. Together they mean to leave a marriage, i.e. divorce. The 女 radical in 婚 marks it as a marriage-related character.
离 — top 亠 + 凶 + 禸 (animal track)
Originally depicted a long-tailed bird caught in a net, from which the early sense 'oriole' arose. The character was later borrowed phonetically for the unrelated verb meaning 'to leave' or 'be apart from,' which became its dominant modern usage. The original bird sense faded out of everyday use.