命运
mìngyùn · HSK 3
lot
🎲 命 = life/fate + 运 = transport/move; literally life's movement
命 means life or mandate (originally a decree from above), and 运 means to move or transport. Together they describe how life moves you along — your fate or destiny, the lot you are dealt.
命 — 亼 (gather) + 卩 (kneeling person) + 口 (mouth)
Originally depicted a kneeling figure receiving an oral command from above, combining 令 (order) with an added 口 (mouth) for emphasis. The image of authority issuing decrees extended from 'command' to 'mandate' and then 'destiny, life,' as one's fate was seen as decreed by Heaven.
运 — walk radical 辶 + 军 jūn (army)
Originally depicted an army (军) on the move (辶), meaning to transport or move troops. The sense broadened to 'transport, move, revolve' and later acquired the abstract meaning of 'fortune' or 'luck'—what fate moves toward you. The simplified form replaces traditional 運.