到来
dàolái · HSK 5
arrive
📬 到 (arrive) + 来 (come) = arrival, the coming
到来 pairs 到 dào 'to reach/arrive' with 来 lái 'to come'. Together they name the act of arriving or the onset of something — a season, an era, a guest. Verbal hook: reach + come = the coming has come.
到 — 刂 knife + 至 (phonetic, 'arrive')
到 is a semantic-phonetic compound. 至 ('to arrive') gives both meaning and sound, while 刂 (knife) was added later, likely as a phonetic reinforcer or to distinguish the written form. The core sense 'to arrive, reach' comes directly from 至, and 到 has carried that meaning since early script forms.
来 — pictograph of a wheat plant with grain heads
来 originally depicted a stalk of wheat with drooping grain heads, and meant 'wheat' in oracle bone script. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the unrelated verb 'to come,' which became its dominant meaning. The original 'wheat' sense was taken over by 麥 (now 麦).