解雇
jiě gù · HSK 7
to fire
📦🚪 解雇 = 解 untie/release + 雇 hire = release someone from being hired
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.
雇 — door 户 + short-tailed bird 隹
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 隹 (bird) gives the meaning and 户 (door) hints at the sound, referring to a migratory bird (a type of cuckoo). The meaning later shifted by loan to 'hire' or 'employ', as in 雇佣, while the original bird sense faded from common use.