含量
hán liàng · HSK 4
quantity contained
📦 含 (contain) + 量 (quantity) = quantity contained, i.e. content
含 means to hold or contain; 量 means amount or measure. Together 含量 names the amount of something held inside — e.g. the sugar content of a drink or the iron content of a food.
含 — mouth 口 + 今 (jīn, phonetic)
含 is a phono-semantic compound. The 口 (mouth) component gives the meaning — holding something in the mouth — while 今 supplies the sound. From the literal sense of keeping something inside the mouth, it extended to mean 'contain', 'include', or 'hold within'.
量 — top 旦 (sunrise) + bottom 里 (village/measure)
Originally a pictograph of a funnel or measuring vessel used to gauge grain. The form evolved to suggest weighing at sunrise (旦) over a measured area (里). It split into two readings: liáng 'to measure' (the action) and liàng 'quantity' (the result).