绕行
rào xíng · HSK 7
detour
🔄 绕 = go around + 行 = travel; going around = take the long way, a detour
绕 means to wind or circle around, and 行 means to go or travel. Put together, 绕行 is travel that loops around an obstacle instead of straight through it: a detour.
绕 — silk radical 纟 + 尧 (yáo, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The silk radical 纟 hints at the original meaning of winding or wrapping thread around something, while 尧 supplies the sound (yáo → rào). From 'wind/coil' it extended to 'go around, encircle, detour,' the senses common today.
行 — crossroads pictograph (left 彳 + right 亍)
行 originally pictured a four-way crossroads in oracle bone script, with two paths meeting. From 'road' it extended to 'walk, go, travel,' and then to 'a row, line' or 'business firm' (read háng). The two halves 彳 and 亍 are the split sides of that ancient crossroads.