过硬
guò yìng · HSK 7
to have perfect mastery of sth
💪 过硬 = 过 (pass/exceed) + 硬 (hard) = hard enough to pass every test
硬 means hard or tough, so skills that are 过硬 are tough enough to clear any bar set for them. The literal pass-the-hardness reading lines up with the meaning of solid, proven mastery.
过 — 辶 walk radical + 呙 (phonetic)
过 combines the walking radical 辶, suggesting motion or passage, with 呙 serving as the phonetic component. Originally it depicted crossing or passing by on foot, which extended to meanings like 'to pass,' 'to cross over,' and later 'past' or 'excessive.' The simplified form replaces the traditional 過.
硬 — stone 石 + 更 (gēng, phonetic)
硬 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 石 'stone' gives the meaning—stones are hard—while the right side 更 originally suggested the pronunciation. From the literal sense of stone-hardness, 硬 extended to mean firm, stiff, or stubborn in both physical and figurative uses.