咽喉
yān hoú · HSK 7
throat
咽 (pharynx) + 喉 (larynx) = throat; both carry the 口 mouth radical on the left
Two throat parts named together: 咽 yān is the pharynx (swallowing passage), 喉 hóu is the larynx (voice box). The mouth radical 口 on each marks them as openings of the upper airway.
咽 — mouth 口 + cause 因 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 口 (mouth) gives the meaning, while 因 supplies the sound. It originally referred to the throat or pharynx, the passage in the mouth. The senses 'to swallow' (yàn) and 'choked with emotion' (yè) developed from this anatomical core meaning.