串门
chuàn mén · HSK 7
to drop in
🚪 串 = skewering through + 门 = doors — threading from door to door
串 means to string together (like beads on a skewer). Add 门 (door) and you get stringing doors together — hopping from one household to the next for a casual visit.
串 — two 口 boxes pierced by vertical line 丨
串 is a pictograph showing objects skewered together on a stick, like beads on a string or meat on a skewer. The two boxes represent items threaded onto the central vertical line. From this concrete image came the meanings 'string together,' 'skewer,' and the verb 'to link' or 'connect in a series.'
门 — pictograph of double-leaf gate
门 is a pictograph showing a pair of swinging doors hung in a doorway, originally drawn as 門 in oracle-bone script with two clear leaves. The simplified form 门 keeps the same outline with fewer strokes. It still means 'gate' or 'door' and serves as a phonetic in characters like 们, 问, and 闷.