将要
jiāng yào · HSK 5
to be going to
⏳ 将 = about-to + 要 = want/need; together: about to want = will/shall
将 marks futurity (about to, going to) and 要 means want or need. Stacked, they form a near-future auxiliary: the action is set up and waiting to happen. Common in formal or written Chinese.
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.
要 — west 覀 (top) + woman 女 (bottom)
Originally a pictograph of a woman with hands on her waist, meaning 'waist' (the original form of 腰). The top 覀 is a stylized depiction of the waist area, not the character for 'west'. Over time it was borrowed for the meaning 'to want, important', so 腰 (with 月 flesh radical) was created for the original 'waist' sense.