蘸
zhàn · HSK 7
to dip in
🍤 Holds 酉 the wine-jar inside; to dip a brush or dumpling into the liquid
zhàn sounds like the start of John as he dips a shrimp into sauce. The character packs 酉, the old wine-jar radical, plus the grass top 艹, so the whole thing is about plunging something into a pot of ink or sauce.
蘸 — 艹 grass + 兼 (phonetic) + 酉 wine vessel
蘸 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 酉 (wine jar) gives the meaning of dipping into liquid, while 兼 supplies the sound. Originally it described dipping food or a brush into wine or sauce, and the modern sense 'to dip' (e.g. dipping a dumpling in vinegar) preserves that core idea.