听众
tīngzhòng · HSK 3
audience
👂👥 听 = listen + 众 = crowd; a crowd that listens = audience
众 shows three 人 (people) stacked — a crowd. Pair with 听 (listen) and you get the listening crowd: an audience. Compare 观众 (watching crowd = spectators) and 群众 (the masses).
听 — mouth 口 + axe 斤 (simplified from 聽)
The traditional form 聽 combined 耳 (ear) with 王, 十, 目, and 心, depicting attentive listening with ear, eyes, and heart. The modern simplified 听 uses 口 (mouth) plus the phonetic 斤 (jīn), a much later shorthand. Despite the 'mouth' component, the meaning 'to listen, hear' was inherited from 聽.