名气
míng qì · HSK 7
fame
📛 名气 = 名 (name) + 气 (air/breath) - your name carried on the air = fame
名 means name and 气 means air or breath; reputation is your name spreading through the air to everyone. Note 名气 = fame, while 名字 (name + character) = your actual personal name.
名 — evening 夕 + mouth 口
A compound ideograph: in the dark of evening (夕), one cannot recognize others by sight, so the mouth (口) calls out a name to identify oneself. The original sense of 'name' broadened to include reputation, fame, and a measure word for people.
气 — steam/vapor radical 气
Originally a pictograph of rising vapor or clouds drifting in the sky, depicting curling streams of air. The character came to mean breath, air, and by extension vital energy or 'qi.' The simplified form 气 keeps the original outline; the traditional 氣 added 米 (rice) to suggest steam rising from cooking grain.