投机
tóujī · HSK 7
speculate
🎲📈 投 throw + 机 opportunity = throw yourself at a chance to gamble = speculate
投 means throw or cast, 机 means chance or opportunity. Casting yourself at any opening to make a quick gain captures both senses: financial speculation and being opportunistic.
投 — hand radical 扌 + weapon 殳
Originally a pictograph of a hand (扌) throwing or hurling a weapon or staff (殳). The core meaning 'to throw, cast, hurl' extended over time to figurative senses like 'to invest,' 'to deliver,' or 'to throw oneself into' something.