追う
おう · ou · JLPT N3 · verb-godan
to chase
🐕🐈 ou sounds like Oh! — what you yell as you run after someone
The kanji 追 pairs 辶 (the walking/movement radical) with a phonetic part, so it carries the sense of going after something. Remember: 追う (ou) = to chase, as in 'Oh! Wait for me!'
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.