开阔
kāi kuò · HSK 7
to open up
🌅 开 kāi (open) + 阔 kuò (wide) = wide-open, like open plains or a broad outlook
开 is the open/start character; 阔 means broad or vast. Together 开阔 describes wide-open space, and figuratively a broad, expansive mind or outlook.
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'.
阔 — door 門 + 活 huó (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 門 ('door/gate') gives the meaning of a wide opening, while 活 supplies the sound. Originally suggesting a broad gateway, it came to mean 'wide, vast, spacious,' as in 广阔 or 阔气 ('extravagant').