骨折
gǔ zhé · HSK 7
to suffer a fracture
🦴 骨 (bone) + 折 (break/snap) = bone-break = fracture
骨 means bone; 折 means to break, snap, or fold. The compound literally reads bone-break, which lines up with the medical meaning of fracture. 折 also shows up in 折断 (snap off) and 打折 (discount, i.e. price knocked down).
折 — hand 扌 + axe 斤
Originally written as 折 with a hand (扌) breaking or chopping something with an axe (斤), depicting the act of snapping or cutting in two. The core meaning 'to break, snap, fold' extends metaphorically to 'bend,' 'turn back,' and 'discount' (as in reducing a price by breaking off part).