放
fàng
放: the verb for letting go
The picture Your grip loosens and the thing stays right where you left it. 拿 closes the fingers and pulls the thing toward you; 放 opens them and leaves it where it lands.
Where the picture shows up in 放
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set it down
把行李放在这儿吧。
bǎ xíngli fàng zài zhèr ba
Just put your bags here.
The bag slides off your shoulder onto the floor and your fingers open.
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let it fall in
别放太多盐。
bié fàng tài duō yán
Don't add too much salt.
A pinch of salt drops off your fingertips into the pot and dissolves into the soup.
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let people go
明天公司放假。
míngtiān gōngsī fàng jià
The office is closed tomorrow.
The office doors swing open and the people who were held inside scatter into the street.
放假 is the company opening the hand that was holding you.
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let the sound out
你放一首歌吧。
nǐ fàng yì shǒu gē ba
Put on a song.
A song shut inside the speaker is let loose and spreads through the room.
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leave it be
汤放凉了再喝。
tāng fàng liáng le zài hē
Let the soup cool before you drink it.
The hot bowl sits on the table, untouched, cooling on its own.
All of it in one picture
放 is a hand opening. Open it and the bag stays on the floor, the salt falls into the pot, the staff scatter out of the building, the song spills out of the speaker. The soup cooling by itself on the table is the same picture — you took your hand off, so it simply sits there and does what it does. Wherever 放 turns up, someone has just stopped holding on and left the thing to be where it is.