名片
míngpiàn · HSK 4
card
📇 名片 = 名 (name) + 片 (slip/card)
名 means name, 片 means a thin slice or slip. Together: a name-slip — the small piece of card you hand over with your name and contact details on it.
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.
片 — right half of 木 (tree split vertically)
Pictograph showing the right half of a tree 木 split down the middle, depicting a thin slice or slab of wood. From this came the meanings 'slice,' 'flat thin piece,' and by extension 'sheet' or 'card.' Its mirror image 爿 represents the left half.