解除
jiěchú · HSK 5
remove
🔓 解 = untie/solve + 除 = remove; together: untie and remove a restriction
解 means to untie or release (knife 刀 cutting an ox 牛 by its horns 角 — original sense of dissecting). 除 means to eliminate or remove. Combined, 解除 is the formal verb for lifting a ban, cancelling a contract, or relieving a duty.
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.
除 — left ear/mound 阝 + surplus 余
除 combines the 'mound/steps' radical 阝 (originally 阜, a hill) with 余 as the phonetic. It first meant the steps of a palace, then extended to 'remove' or 'clear away' (as one sweeps steps clean), and later to mathematical 'divide.'