字眼
zì yǎn · HSK 7
wording
👁️ 字 word + 眼 eye = the exact word your eye lands on = wording
字 means written word and 眼 means eye. Together 字眼 is the specific word or phrasing you eye closely, hence wording or choice of words.
字 — roof 宀 + child 子
Originally depicted a child 子 under a roof 宀, suggesting birth or rearing a child in the home. The meaning later extended to 'to give birth, nurture' and then to 'written character', since characters were seen as offspring derived from earlier pictographs.
眼 — eye radical 目 + 艮 (phonetic)
眼 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 目 means 'eye' and gives the meaning, while 艮 on the right supplies the sound. Originally referring to the eyeball, it broadened over time to mean 'eye' generally and, by extension, 'a hole' or 'key point'.