将来
jiāng lái · HSK 3
future
⏳ 将来 = 将 (will/shall) + 来 (come) — what will come
将 marks future intent (will, shall, going to) and 来 means come or arrive. Together: what is going to come, i.e. the future. Compare with 未来 (not-yet-come) which is more literary.
将 — 爿 (bed/plank) + 寸 (hand) + 月 (meat)
Originally depicted a hand (寸) holding meat (月) beside a table or altar (爿), suggesting offering meat at a ceremony — hence a leader or general who presides. The meaning extended to 'commander' and, as a function word, 'about to' or 'will'. The simplified form 将 streamlines 爿 into 丬.
来 — pictograph of a wheat plant with grain heads
来 originally depicted a stalk of wheat with drooping grain heads, and meant 'wheat' in oracle bone script. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the unrelated verb 'to come,' which became its dominant meaning. The original 'wheat' sense was taken over by 麥 (now 麦).