销
xiāo · HSK 7
to sell
🔥 钅 metal + 肖 (xiāo sound) = melt down metal; later: cancel, sell off, spend
The 钅 metal radical gives the original sense of melting metal, and 肖 supplies the xiāo sound. From melting down came the senses of cancelling or writing off, selling stock, and spending money away.
销 — metal radical 钅 + 肖 xiāo (phonetic)
销 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The metal radical 钅 (金) signals a meaning related to metal, while 肖 supplies the sound xiāo. It originally meant to melt or smelt metal, then extended figuratively to 'dissolve away,' and later to modern senses like 'sell' (move goods away) and 'cancel/expend.'