轰炸
hōngzhà · HSK 7
bomb
💣 轰 boom/rumble + 炸 explode = to bomb, bombard
轰 hōng is the rumble of an explosion (note the 车 cart radical times three, a thunderous racket); 炸 zhà is to blast or deep-fry, with the 火 fire radical on the left. Together: pound a target with explosives.
轰 — three 车 (chariot) stacked; simplified from 轟
Originally written 轟 with three 車 (chariot), depicting the thunderous rumble of many chariots rolling together. The character means 'boom' or 'rumble' and is used for loud noises, explosions, and bombing. The simplified form 轰 keeps one full 车 above two abbreviated 又 strokes.
炸 — fire radical 火 + 乍
A semantic-phonetic compound: the fire radical 火 gives the meaning (cooking with hot oil or sudden bursting by heat), while 乍 (zhà) supplies the sound. Originally meant 'to burst' or 'explode'; the cooking sense 'to deep-fry' developed from the idea of food bursting in hot oil.