解除
かいじょ · kaijo · JLPT N1 · noun
cancellation
🔓 解 = untie + 除 = remove: untying and removing a bond gives cancel or release
解 means untie or solve, and 除 means remove or eliminate. Together they describe removing a binding or obligation, which gives the senses of cancel and release.
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.
除 — left ear/mound 阝 + surplus 余
除 combines the 'mound/steps' radical 阝 (originally 阜, a hill) with 余 as the phonetic. It first meant the steps of a palace, then extended to 'remove' or 'clear away' (as one sweeps steps clean), and later to mathematical 'divide.'