解读
jiě dú · HSK 7
to interpret
🔍📖 解 untie/solve + 读 read = read by untying the meaning = decipher
解 means to untie or solve, 读 means to read. Together: reading that solves something, i.e. to decode or interpret. The same 解 appears in 解决 (solve) and 解答 (answer).
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.
读 — speech radical 讠 + 卖 (mài, sell)
读 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (speech) gives the meaning, since reading is tied to speaking words aloud. The right side 卖 originally provided the sound; in the traditional form 讀 the phonetic was 賣 (yù/dú).