赶往
gǎn wǎng · HSK 7
to hurry to (somewhere)
🏃💨 赶 = rush/chase + 往 = toward; rush toward a place
赶 carries the sense of hurrying or chasing, and 往 marks direction toward a destination. Together 赶往 means to hurry off to somewhere specific, often with urgency like rushing to a meeting or scene.
赶 — walk radical 走 + 旱 (gan, phonetic)
赶 combines 走 'to walk/run' as the meaning component with 旱 as the phonetic clue for the sound gǎn. The walking radical points to its core meanings: to hurry, to chase, or to drive (animals) along. The simplified form replaced the older 趕, which used 倝 as phonetic.
往 — 彳 (step radical) + 主 (phonetic)
往 originally depicted a foot moving toward a place, with the 彳 radical signaling motion or walking. The right component 主 served mainly as a phonetic clue. Over time the meaning settled into 'to go (toward)' and, by extension, 'past' or 'previously'.