考核
kǎo hé · HSK 5
to examine
📋✅ 考核 = test (考) + examine (核) — formal assessment
考 means test or exam (as in 考试); 核 means to verify or check the core of something. Together they form the workplace/academic term for a formal evaluation or performance review.
考 — old 老 (top) + 丂 phonetic
Originally written like 老 ('old'), 考 depicted an elderly person with long hair leaning on a cane, and the two characters were once interchangeable. Over time 考 specialized to mean 'deceased father' and later 'to examine, test, investigate,' with the bottom 丂 hinting at the sound.
核 — wood 木 + 亥 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 木 ('wood/tree') gives the meaning, while 亥 supplies the sound. It originally referred to a hard-shelled fruit pit or kernel inside wood/fruit, then extended figuratively to 'core,' 'nucleus,' and in modern usage 'nuclear' (as in atomic nucleus).