嗅探 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

xiùtàn

sniff

xiù smell

To taste 口 an odor 臭; 臭 also provides the pronunciation

口 Meaning component

kǒu, kou mouth

chòu smell

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 罙 represents the sound.

扌 Meaning component

shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

罙 Sound component

shēn deep

Change in sound

探 and 罙 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
探 *l̥ˤ[ə]m
罙 *[l̥][ə]m

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	thom	l̥ˤ[ə]m	put the hand into and test

《說文》：“，遠取之也。从手，聲。”