开张
kāi zhāng · HSK 7
first transaction of a business day
🏪 开张 = 开 (open) + 张 (spread out) — a shop opens its doors and spreads out its wares
开 means open and 张 means to spread or stretch out (it is also the measure word for flat things). Together they mean opening a business, or the very first sale of the day.
开 — two hands 廾 + door 门 (open gate)
Originally written 開, showing two hands (廾) lifting the bar (一) off a gate (門) to open it. The simplified form 开 keeps the two-hands element and drops the gate. Core meaning 'to open' extended to 'start, operate, bloom'.
张 — bow 弓 + long 长 (phonetic)
张 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 弓 (bow) gives the meaning, originally referring to stringing or drawing a bow. The right side 长 supplies the sound. From 'draw a bow' it extended to 'stretch, open, spread,' and is now also a very common surname.