商场
shāngchǎng · HSK 1
department store
🏬 商场 = 商 (commerce) + 场 (venue/field)
商 means commerce or trade; 场 means a venue, arena, or open ground. Together: a venue for commerce — a department store or marketplace. The same 场 shows up in 机场 (airport) and 操场 (playground).
商 — 亠 lid + 丷 + 冏 window/enclosure
In oracle bone script 商 depicted a raised platform or altar-like structure, and it served as the name of the Shang dynasty and its capital region. The modern components are a late simplification of that pictograph and carry no separate meaning. The sense 'trade, merchant' arose later, traditionally linked to Shang people who travelled to buy and sell after their dynasty fell.
场 — earth 土 + 昜 (bright/rising)
Originally a flat open ground used for sun-drying grain or for ritual offerings, hence 土 'earth' as the meaning component. 昜 supplies the sound and hints at an open, sunlit space. The meaning broadened to any open area or venue, and as cháng it still refers to a threshing floor or a session/spell of something.