夜市
yèshì · HSK 7
night market
🌙🏮 夜 night + 市 market = night market
夜 — 亠 lid + 亻 person + 夕 evening moon
夜 originally depicted a person (亻) under a roof (亠) with the moon (夕) beside them, evoking nighttime rest. The moon component 夕 carries the meaning of evening, while the surrounding elements set the scene of a person at night. Over time it came to mean 'night' in general.
市 — top 亠 + cloth 巾
Originally a pictograph of a marketplace banner or sign post above a stall, indicating a place of trade. The character came to mean 'market', and by extension 'city' or 'town', since markets were the centers of urban life. The modern form combines a top stroke with 巾 (cloth/banner).