当众
dāng zhòng · HSK 7
in public
👥 dang = facing, zhong = crowd — facing the crowd
当 means facing or in the presence of, 众 means crowd or multitude (three people 人 stacked). Together: standing before the masses, doing something for all to see.
当 — small ⺌ + crown 冖 + hand 彐 (simplified from 當: 尚 + 田)
Originally written 當, combining 田 'field' with 尚 as a phonetic. The early sense was 'to match' or 'face' a field of equal value, extended to 'correspond to', 'ought to', and 'serve as'. The simplified form 当 streamlines the upper 尚 component.