大使馆
dà shǐ guǎn · HSK 3
embassy
🏛️ 大使馆 = big + envoy + hall (the building where the big envoy works)
大 means big/great, 使 means envoy/messenger, and 馆 means hall or large building. An embassy is literally the 'great-envoy hall' — the official building housing a country's chief diplomat abroad.
大 — pictograph of a person with arms outstretched
大 is a pictograph showing a person standing with arms and legs spread wide. The outstretched arms suggest 'big' or 'great', extending from the literal image of a large stance to abstract meanings like important or grand. It is one of the oldest characters, found on oracle bones.
使 — person radical 亻 + official 吏
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning and 吏 (official, also a phonetic clue) suggests the sound. The early sense was 'to send a person on a mission,' from which came 'envoy/messenger' and the broader meanings 'to use' and 'to cause/make.'