走路
zǒulù · HSK 1
go on foot
🚶 走 walk + 路 road = walk a road, go on foot
走 means walk/go, and 路 means road or path. Together 走路 literally reads walk-road, the everyday verb for going on foot. Compare 走 alone (to go/leave) with 走路 (to walk as an activity).
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.'
路 — foot 足 + each 各 (phonetic)
路 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The foot radical 足 on the left signals meaning related to walking or travel, while 各 on the right hints at the ancient pronunciation. Originally referring to a road traveled on foot, it broadened to mean 'road, path, route' in general.