庙会
miào huì · HSK 7
temple fair
🏯🎪 庙 temple + 会 gathering = a fair held at a temple
庙 — shelter radical 广 + 朝 (court/dynasty)
Originally written 廟, combining 广 (shelter/building) with 朝 (court, audience). It depicted a building where ancestors were honored and rulers held court. The meaning extended from ancestral hall to temple or shrine in general.
会 — 人 person on top + 云 cloud/say below (simplified from 會)
The traditional form 會 showed a lid over a vessel with contents stacked inside, depicting things coming together — hence 'meet, gather, assemble.' From 'gathering' it extended to 'meeting,' then 'understand' (minds meeting) and 'be able to.' The simplified 会 keeps only a schematic top and bottom.