台阶 (tái jiē)

steps; flight of steps; step (over obstacle); fig. way out of an embar

Character breakdown

台 (Tái) · 5 strokes

Originally 台 and 㠯 were pronounced the same and thus written the same. Later 口 was added to distinguish the characters.
阶 (jiē) · 6 strokes

Phonosemantic compound. 阝 represents the meaning and 介 represents the sound. Simplified form of 階.