公积金
gōng jī jīn · HSK 7
accumulated fund
🏦 公 public + 积 accumulate + 金 gold = public accumulated fund
公 (gōng) means public/official, 积 (jī) means to accumulate or pile up, and 金 (jīn) means gold or money. Together: an official pooled reserve fund, like a housing or pension fund.
公 — eight 八 + private 厶
Originally an ideograph showing 八 (to divide) over 厶 (private/self), depicting the act of splitting away from selfish interest. The combination came to mean 'public' or 'fair,' the opposite of private. It later extended to senses like 'duke,' 'lord,' and 'grandfather.'
积 — grain radical 禾 + 责 (phonetic)
积 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 禾 (grain) gives the meaning, while 责 supplies the sound. It originally referred to piling up harvested grain, which extended to the general sense of 'accumulate' or 'amass'. The simplified form replaced the older 積.
金 — roof 亼 + two dots (metal nuggets) + earth 土
Originally a pictograph of metal nuggets buried in the earth beneath a covering, with the two dots representing pieces of ore. It first meant 'metal' broadly, then narrowed to 'gold' as the most precious metal, and by extension 'money'.