多亏
duō kuī · HSK 7
thanks to
🍀🙏 duo = much, kui = deficit — much was at a loss, but it worked out thanks to...
多 means much/many, 亏 means loss/deficit. Together they flip into gratitude: things were looking bad (much deficit) but thanks to someone or something, it turned out okay. The word marks a lucky rescue from a near-miss.
多 — two 夕 (evening) stacked
多 originally depicted two pieces of meat (夕, a variant of 肉) stacked together, suggesting abundance. Over time it was reanalyzed as two 'evenings' piled up — many evenings meaning many days, hence 'many, much'. The doubling itself conveys quantity.
亏 — top stroke 一 + 丂 (hooked breath)
亏 is the simplified form of 虧. Originally 丂 depicted breath or air being exhaled with difficulty, suggesting something lacking or deficient. Over time it came to mean 'lose,' 'deficit,' or 'owe,' as in being short of what is needed.