遗臭万年 (yí chòu wàn nián) — to go down in history as a byword for infamy; to be remembered forever for one's evil deeds

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 遺; 遗 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 遺 pairs 辶 (move) with 貴 as a sound part; the simplified 遗 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the old sound part.

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

臭 combines 自 (nose) and 犬 (dog), referring to a dog's strong sense of smell; it originally meant 'to smell'.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 萬; 万 is its simplified writing.

For 万, the form 萬 was originally a picture of a scorpion, later borrowed for its sound to write 'ten thousand'; the scorpion picture is unrelated to that number.

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

年 pairs 禾 (grain) with 人, which gives the sound. Its original meaning was harvest, and it later came to mean a year.