入场券
rù chǎng quàn · HSK 7
ticket
🎟️ 入 enter + 场 venue + 券 voucher = a voucher to enter the venue
入 (rù) means enter, 场 (chǎng) is a venue or arena, and 券 (quàn) is a voucher or ticket. Stack them and you get the slip that lets you enter the venue: an admission ticket.
入 — single pictograph, two slanting strokes
入 is a pictograph showing an arrowhead or pointed entrance, with two strokes converging downward to suggest something going inward. The original sense was 'to enter,' and it still carries that meaning today. It contrasts visually with 人 (person), where the strokes cross differently at the top.
场 — earth 土 + 昜 (bright/rising)
Originally a flat open ground used for sun-drying grain or for ritual offerings, hence 土 'earth' as the meaning component. 昜 supplies the sound and hints at an open, sunlit space. The meaning broadened to any open area or venue, and as cháng it still refers to a threshing floor or a session/spell of something.
券 — ⺉ knife radical + 龹 (phonetic top)
Originally written 券, depicting a tally cut with a knife (刀/⺉) into two halves so each party could keep proof of an agreement. The top element 龹 supplies the sound. From this 'split tally' sense it came to mean a certificate, ticket, or voucher.