工商
gōngshāng · HSK 6
industrial and commercial circles
🏭🛒 工 (work/industry) + 商 (commerce/trade) = industry and commerce
工 means work or industrial labor; 商 means trade or commerce. Together 工商 covers both the factory side and the marketplace side — the full business sector.
商 — 亠 lid + 丷 + 冏 window/enclosure
In oracle bone script 商 depicted a raised platform or altar-like structure, and it served as the name of the Shang dynasty and its capital region. The modern components are a late simplification of that pictograph and carry no separate meaning. The sense 'trade, merchant' arose later, traditionally linked to Shang people who travelled to buy and sell after their dynasty fell.