解开
jiěkāi · HSK 3
to untie; to undo
🪢 解 = untie/solve + 开 = open; 'untie-open' = unknot, loosen
解 carries the sense of separating or resolving (its old form shows a knife splitting an ox horn), and 开 means to open. Together they mean to undo something fastened — a knot, buckle, or coupling.</p>
解 — horn 角 + knife 刀 + ox 牛
解 is an ideograph showing hands using a knife (刀) to separate the horn (角) from an ox (牛). The original meaning was to butcher or dismember an ox, which broadened to 'untie, separate, loosen,' and then extended figuratively to 'explain' or 'understand'—to take something apart mentally.
开 — two hands 廾 + door 门 (open gate)
Originally written 開, showing two hands (廾) lifting the bar (一) off a gate (門) to open it. The simplified form 开 keeps the two-hands element and drops the gate. Core meaning 'to open' extended to 'start, operate, bloom'.