背叛
bèi pàn · HSK 7
to betray
🗡️ 背 back + 叛 rebel — turning your back on loyalty
背 means back or to carry on ones back. Paired with 叛 rebel, it captures the act of turning away from someone you owed allegiance to.
背 — north 北 (phonetic) + flesh 月/肉
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 月 (a form of 肉, 'flesh/body') gives the meaning 'back of the body,' while 北 supplies the sound. Interestingly, 北 itself depicted two people back-to-back and once meant 'back'; when it was borrowed for 'north,' 背 was created with the flesh radical to keep the original sense.