解ける
とける · tokeru · JLPT N3 · verb-ichidan
to come untied
🪢 解 = 角 horn + 刀 knife + 牛 ox: a knife taking the ox apart at the joints
The kanji 解 means separating something along its natural joints. 解ける is the intransitive form: things come apart by themselves, like a knot coming untied or a puzzle getting solved. Sound hook: toke-ru, it took itself apart.
解 — horn 角 + knife 刀 + ox 牛
解 is an ideograph showing hands using a knife (刀) to separate the horn (角) from an ox (牛). The original meaning was to butcher or dismember an ox, which broadened to 'untie, separate, loosen,' and then extended figuratively to 'explain' or 'understand'—to take something apart mentally.
ほどける · hodokeru · JLPT N1 · verb-ichidan
to come untied
解 — horn 角 + knife 刀 + ox 牛
解 is an ideograph showing hands using a knife (刀) to separate the horn (角) from an ox (牛). The original meaning was to butcher or dismember an ox, which broadened to 'untie, separate, loosen,' and then extended figuratively to 'explain' or 'understand'—to take something apart mentally.