超越
chāoyuè · HSK 5
to surpass; to exceed; to transcend
🏃💨 超 = surpass + 越 = cross over; together: leap beyond
超 carries the sense of exceeding or going past a limit, while 越 means to cross over or traverse. Stacked, they reinforce each other: to surpass and cross beyond, i.e. outdo or overshoot a mark.
超 — 走 (run) + 召 (summon, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 走 'run' gives the meaning of moving past or going beyond, while 召 'summon' supplies the sound. The original sense was to leap or stride over something, which extended to 'surpass' and 'exceed'.
越 — 走 (run) + 戉 (axe, phonetic)
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 走 ('to run, go') gives the meaning of crossing or passing over, while 戉 (an ancient axe) supplies the sound. From 'to stride across' it extended to 'exceed, surpass,' and was later borrowed as the name of the ancient Yue state and people in southern China.