醉
zuì · HSK 5
intoxicated
🍷 酉 (wine jar) + 卒 (finish/collapse) — drink till you drop = drunk
Decomposition: left side 酉 is the ancient wine-jar radical (also in 酒 jiu, alcohol); right side 卒 means soldier or to finish/expire. Together: finished by the wine jar — intoxicated. Sounds like zway.
醉 — wine vessel 酉 + complete 卒
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 酉 depicts a wine jar and gives the meaning 'alcohol,' while 卒 ('to finish, to end') hints at the sound and suggests drinking to completion. Together they convey being thoroughly drunk, and by extension 'intoxicated' or 'enthralled.'