走开
zoǔ kāi · HSK 2
to walk away
🚶 走 = walk + 开 = open/away → walk away, beat it
走开 stacks two common verbs: 走 (zǒu, walk/go) and 开 (kāi, open, away from). Together they mean move yourself off — leave, step aside, scram. The 开 here carries the away sense it adds to many verbs (拿开 take away, 滚开 roll off).
走 — person running 夭 + foot 止
Originally a pictograph of a person with arms swinging (夭) above a foot (止), depicting someone running. The bottom 止 (foot) was later simplified to a form resembling 火 in modern script. The original sense was 'to run,' which still survives in compounds; the everyday meaning shifted to 'to walk' or 'to go.'
开 — two hands 廾 + door 门 (open gate)
Originally written 開, showing two hands (廾) lifting the bar (一) off a gate (門) to open it. The simplified form 开 keeps the two-hands element and drops the gate. Core meaning 'to open' extended to 'start, operate, bloom'.