实验室
shíyànshì · HSK 3
laboratory
🧪🔬 实验室 = experiment + room (lab room where experiments happen)
实 (real/solid) + 验 (test/verify) combine as 实验 = experiment. 室 means room or chamber. So 实验室 literally reads experiment-room — the standard word for a science laboratory.
验 — horse radical 马 + 佥 (all/together)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The horse radical 马 originally referred to inspecting horses, while 佥 (qiān, 'all together') supplied the sound. Over time the meaning broadened from 'examine a horse' to 'test, examine, verify' in general.
室 — roof 宀 + arrive 至
A semantic compound: 宀 (roof/house) over 至 (to arrive). The image is a place one arrives at and stays in — an inner room. From 'inner chamber' the meaning broadened to 'room' generally, and by extension to specialized rooms like an office or laboratory.