跳槽
tiào cáo · HSK 7
to change jobs
🐴 跳 jump + 槽 feeding-trough = an animal jumping to a new trough = switch employers
跳 (tiào) means to jump and 槽 (cáo) is a feeding trough. A horse leaving one stall's trough for another is the old image behind 跳槽: hopping to a new job for better feed.
跳 — foot 足 + 兆 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The foot radical 足 carries the meaning, since jumping is done with the feet, while 兆 (zhào) supplies the sound. Originally meaning 'to leap' or 'spring up,' it later extended to senses like 'skip over' and 'beat' (as in a pulse).
槽 — wood radical 木 + 曹 (cáo, phonetic)
槽 is a phono-semantic compound. The wood radical 木 signals the meaning—originally a wooden trough or feeding basin for animals. The component 曹 supplies the sound 'cáo'. From 'trough' it extended to any long hollow channel or groove, as in 河槽 (riverbed) or 牙槽 (tooth socket).