高跟鞋
gāo gēn xié · HSK 5
high-heeled shoes
👠 高跟鞋 = tall + heel + shoe
高 means tall/high, 跟 means heel (of foot or shoe), and 鞋 means shoe. Stack them and you get a shoe with a tall heel.
高 — pictograph of a tall building/tower
高 is a pictograph of a tall structure, likely a watchtower or multi-story gate, with a roof on top, an upper chamber, and a base below. From this concrete image of height it extended to the general meanings 'tall,' 'high,' and figuratively 'lofty' or 'noble.'
跟 — foot radical 足 + 艮 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 足 (foot) gives the meaning, since 跟 originally referred to the heel of the foot. The right side 艮 supplies the sound. From 'heel' it extended to 'follow behind,' and in modern Chinese it also works as 'with' or 'and.'
鞋 — leather radical 革 + 圭 (phonetic)
鞋 is a phono-semantic compound. The leather radical 革 on the left signals the meaning, since shoes were traditionally made of leather or hide. The right side 圭 supplies the sound, giving the modern reading xié. The character has long meant 'shoe' in everyday use.