跌
dié · HSK 6
fall
🤕 足 foot + 失 lose = foot loses footing, you fall
Left radical 足 (foot) plus phonetic 失 (shī, lose) — a foot losing its grip equals a tumble. The dié reading shifts from 失's shī, but the 'foot + lose' decomposition locks the meaning of falling.
跌 — foot radical 足 + 失 (lose)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 足 (foot) gives the meaning 'related to feet/stepping,' while 失 (shī, 'lose') supplies the sound and hints at losing one's footing. The original sense was to stumble or trip, which naturally extended to 'fall down' and later to figurative falls like a drop in price.