辨别
biàn bié · HSK 7
to distinguish
⚖️ 辨 has a knife 刂 between twin 辛 — a blade splitting look-alikes apart
辨 = 辛 + 刂 + 辛: the knife radical slices between two near-identical sides. Add 别 (separate) and you get the full act of telling things apart by cutting through similarity.
别 — separate (knife 刂 + 另 phonetic/'other')
别 originally depicted using a knife (刂) to separate flesh from bone, giving the core sense of 'divide' or 'part from'. The left component 另 ('another, other') reinforces the idea of setting things apart and also hints at the sound. From 'separate' the meaning naturally extended to 'other, different' and to the adverb 'don't' (i.e. do otherwise).