陪葬
péi zàng · HSK 7
to be buried with or next to dead person
⚰️ 陪 accompany + 葬 bury = accompany the dead into burial
陪 means to accompany or keep company; 葬 means to bury or funeral. Together: items or a partner accompanying the deceased into the grave. The 阝 mound radical on 陪 and the 艹 grass over 死 in 葬 both tie to earth and burial.
陪 — mound radical 阝 + 咅 (phonetic)
陪 is a phono-semantic compound. The left 阝 (mound/hill) originally suggested earthen embankments piled alongside something, while 咅 supplies the sound. From 'an accompanying mound of earth' the meaning shifted to 'to accompany' or 'keep company with,' the standard sense today.
葬 — grass 艹 + 死 (death) + 廾 (two hands)
葬 is an associative compound depicting a corpse (死) placed between grass (艹) above and below, with hands (廾) laying it to rest. It pictures an ancient burial practice of covering the dead with vegetation. The original sense 'to bury' has remained stable for millennia.