讨好
tǎohǎo · HSK 7
to get the desired outcome; to win favor by fawning on sb
🎁😊 讨 ask-for + 好 good = ask for goodwill, i.e. curry favor; tǎohǎo sounds like towel-how
讨 — speech radical 讠 + inch 寸
A semantic-phonetic compound combining 讠 (speech) with 寸 (a hand/measure), suggesting demanding or seeking through words. The original sense was to denounce or punish verbally, which broadened over time to mean 'to demand,' 'to ask for,' and 'to discuss.' Modern uses like 讨论 (discuss) and 讨厌 (detest) reflect this range.
好 — woman 女 + child 子
好 is an associative compound showing a woman 女 beside a child 子, depicting a mother with her baby. From this image of maternal affection it came to mean 'good, fine, pleasing.' The reading hǎo means 'good'; read hào it means 'to like.'