赎
shú · HSK 7
to redeem
💰 贝 money + 卖 sell = hand over money to buy something back; to redeem
The 贝 radical means shell-money, so 赎 is about cash. You pay a price to sell back, or rather buy back, what was lost or pawned. Sound hook: shú rhymes with shoe, the thing you pay to get out of pawn.
赎 — shell radical 贝 + 卖 (mài, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The shell radical 贝 signals money or trade, since cowrie shells were ancient currency. The right side 卖 (sell) provides the sound, originally close to shú. Together they convey paying money to buy back or redeem something, hence 'ransom' or 'redeem.'