宽阔
kuān kuò · HSK 6
wide
🛣️ 宽 = see grass under a roof; 阔 = a gate so wide you live in it
Both halves stress roominess: 宽 stacks roof + grass + see, suggesting open ground. 阔 puts live inside gate, a doorway broad enough to dwell in. Together they double down on expansive width.
宽 — roof 宀 + 萈 (phonetic, originally a horned goat)
Originally written with 宀 'roof' over 萈, a horned mountain goat, suggesting a spacious dwelling large enough to house such an animal. The 萈 element also lent its sound. Over time the form simplified to today's 宽, and the meaning shifted from 'spacious house' to the general sense of 'wide, broad, lenient'.
阔 — door 門 + 活 huó (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 門 ('door/gate') gives the meaning of a wide opening, while 活 supplies the sound. Originally suggesting a broad gateway, it came to mean 'wide, vast, spacious,' as in 广阔 or 阔气 ('extravagant').