开采
kāicǎi · HSK 7
mine
⛏️ 开 (open) + 采 (gather/pick) = open up the ground to gather ore: to mine
开 means to open; 采 means to pick or gather (it shows a hand over a tree, plucking fruit). Together: open the earth and pick out what's inside — to mine, extract, or exploit resources. Sound: kāicǎi, with the falling-rising third tone on cǎi.
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'.
采 — hand 爫 (claw) on top of tree 木
采 is an ideographic character showing a hand (爫) reaching down over a tree (木), depicting picking fruit or leaves. Its original meaning was 'to pluck' or 'gather,' which extended to 'collect' and 'select.' Later it also took on the sense of 'colorful' or 'variegated,' a meaning now often written as 彩.