翻云覆雨 (fān yún fù yǔ) — to play fast and loose; to be shifty and duplicitous; to engage in trickery

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

翻 pairs 羽 (wings) with 番, which gives the sound. The shape shows something fluttering.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雲; 云 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 雲 is 雨 (rain) plus 云; 云 was the original writing for 'cloud', and 雨 was added to separate it from the borrowed sense 'to say'.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

覆 pairs 襾, a part connected to the meaning, with 復, which gives the sound.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 雨 is an old picture of a cloud with rain drops falling from it; the top line was added later.