厂长
chǎng zhǎng · HSK 5
factory director
🏭 厂 factory + 长 chief = factory chief (director)
厂 (chǎng) means factory or workshop; 长 (zhǎng) means chief or head, the same 长 used in 校长 (school principal) and 班长 (class leader). Combined: the head of a factory.
厂 — single radical 厂 (cliff)
厂 is a pictograph of an overhanging cliff or rock shelter, showing a sloping line where stone juts out over the ground. It serves as a radical in many characters relating to factories, workshops, or things found under cliffs. In modern simplified Chinese it was also borrowed to write 廠 (chǎng, 'factory').
长 — pictograph of long-haired person with cane
Originally a pictograph showing a person with long, flowing hair leaning on a cane, representing an elder. The meaning extended from 'long hair' to 'long' in general, and also to 'elder' or 'to grow' (read zhǎng). The modern form 长 is a simplification of the traditional 長.