刖

yuè

to amputate one or both feet (punishment in imperial China) (one of the five mutilating punishments 五刑[wu3 xing2])

moon (月) + knife (刂) = amputation of the feet

刂 tells you this involves a blade and cutting punishment; 月 lends the sound yuè and has no bearing on the meaning here.

月+刂→刖

刂KnifeSemantic

月MoonPhonetic

刖刑是古代砍掉罪人脚的一种酷刑。

yuè xíng shì gǔ dài kǎn diào zuì rén jiǎo de yī zhǒng kù xíng。

yuèxíng was a cruel punishment in ancient times that cut off a criminal's feet.

相传卞和因献玉被误判而遭刖足之苦。

xiāng chuán biàn hé yīn xiàn yù bèi wù pàn ér zāo yuè zú zhī kǔ。

it is said that Bian He suffered the agony of having his feet amputated due to a wrongful judgment after he presented a piece of jade.