入门
rù mén · HSK 5
introduction
🚪 入门 = enter (入) + door/gate (门); crossing the threshold into a subject
入 means to enter; 门 means door or gate. Together they literally mean entering the door, which extends to beginner-level introduction to any field — the first doorway you step through when starting to learn something.
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.
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.