追い付く
おいつく · oitsuku · JLPT N3 · verb-godan
to catch up
🐢🐇 追い付く = chase (追う) + stick to (付く): chase until you reach them
追う (ou) means to chase and 付く (tsuku) means to attach or reach. Together: you chase until you are right alongside. Hook: oi! tsu-ku = shout oi! and keep running until you catch up.
追 — 辶 (walk) + 𠂤 (small mound/heap)
Originally a semantic-phonetic compound: 辶 ('walk/movement') gives the meaning of going after something, while 𠂤 supplied the ancient sound. Early bronze inscriptions show it meaning to chase or pursue an enemy. The modern senses — 'pursue,' 'chase after,' 'retroactively' — all extend from this original idea of following in motion.
付 — person radical 亻 + hand 寸
付 originally pictured a hand (寸) reaching out to hand something to a person (亻), depicting the act of giving or delivering. The core sense 'to hand over, deliver, pay' has remained stable since ancient bronze inscriptions. It also serves as a phonetic component in characters like 附, 符, and 府.