赌博
dǔbó · HSK 6
gamble
🎲 赌 = bet + 博 = broad/wager; both halves mean 'to gamble'
赌 (dǔ) means 'to bet' and 博 (bó) originally meant a board game played for stakes, later 'broad/extensive'. Paired together they reinforce each other: a wide-ranging wager. The 贝 radical in 赌 is the old shell-money sign, marking it as money-related.
赌 — 贝 (shell/money) + 者 (phonetic)
赌 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 贝 component (originally a cowrie shell, which served as ancient money) signals the meaning—wagering wealth—while 者 supplies the sound. From this 'staking money' sense it broadened to mean gambling or betting in general.