防止
fángzhǐ · HSK 3
prevention
🛡️ 防 = guard/defend + 止 = stop; together: stop something before it happens
防 carries the sense of guarding or preventing (as in 防御 defense), and 止 means to halt or stop. The compound 防止 means to guard against and thereby halt — i.e. prevention.
防 — mound radical 阝(阜) + 方 fāng (phonetic)
防 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left element 阝 (from 阜) depicts a mound or earthen embankment, suggesting barriers and defense. The right element 方 supplies the sound. Together they evoke a dike or rampart that guards against floods or attacks, hence 'to guard, prevent, defend'.
止 — pictograph of a foot/toe
止 originally depicted a human foot with toes, shown as a footprint on the ground. From this concrete image of a foot it came to mean 'to stop' or 'halt' — the place where a step ends. It also serves as a component in many characters relating to feet, walking, or stopping, such as 步 and 正.