没

Three-drop water radical on the left — the side-form of 水. Marks 没 as historically water-related: the original meaning under the mò reading was 'to sink, submerge, be drowned by water'. Same family as 沉 (to sink), 浸 (to soak), 淹 (to submerge). The everyday méi negation sense ('not, have not') is a much later semantic extension from 'gone, vanished beneath the waves'.

Right side 殳 supplies the sound, though after multiple historical drifts (shū → mò → méi) the modern reading is no longer obviously linked. 殳 itself depicts a hand 又 holding a long-handled weapon. In 没 it originally pictured a hand reaching down to grasp something underwater — a swimmer or diver going under. Same phonetic appears in 殁 (to die).