领养
lǐng yǎng · HSK 7
to adopt
👶🏠 领 lǐng (lead/take in) + 养 yǎng (raise) = take in and raise = adopt
领 means to lead or take in; 养 means to raise or nurture (as in 养育). Together: to take someone in and raise them, i.e. adoption. 养 also shows up in 养老 (care for the elderly) and 营养 (nutrition).
领 — 令 (command, phonetic) + 页 (head)
A semantic-phonetic compound. 页 (head/page) gives the meaning, originally referring to the neck or collar — the part connecting the head to the body. 令 supplies the sound. From 'neck/collar' it extended to 'lead, guide, receive,' since the neck leads the body.
养 — sheep 羊 (top) + 八 over 艮-like base; simplified from 養 (食 + 羊)
The traditional form 養 combined 食 'food' with 羊 'sheep' as the phonetic, depicting the act of feeding sheep and, by extension, raising or nourishing living things. The simplified form 养 keeps 羊 on top but drops the 食 component. From 'feed' the meaning broadened to rear, support, and cultivate.