鼓动
gǔ dòng · HSK 7
to encite
🥁 鼓 = drum + 动 = move; beating the drum to stir people into action
鼓 is a drum, 动 means to move or stir. Together they mean to drum up support, agitate, or incite. Etymology: rallying troops by beating war drums to rouse them into motion.
鼓 — 壴 (drum on stand) + 攴 (hand with stick)
鼓 is a pictograph showing a drum mounted on a stand (壴) being struck by a hand holding a stick (攴/支). It originally depicted the act of beating a drum, and the meaning naturally extended from the instrument itself to the verb 'to beat, to rouse, to encourage.'
动 — force 力 + heavy/重 (simplified from 動)
The traditional form 動 combines 重 (heavy) as the phonetic with 力 (force/strength) as the semantic, suggesting the effort needed to move something heavy. The simplified form 动 replaces 重 with 云, keeping 力 to convey action and motion.