拥挤
yǒngjǐ · HSK 7
crowded
🚇👥 拥 (embrace) + 挤 (squeeze) = bodies embraced-and-squeezed, i.e. crowded
Both halves already mean press-together: 拥 is to hug or throng, 挤 is to squeeze or jostle. Doubling the idea intensifies it, so 拥挤 is the packed-subway sense of crowded where everyone is squashed against everyone else.
挤 — hand radical 扌 + 齐 (qí, even)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning of pressing or pushing with the hand, while 齐 supplies the sound. The simplified form replaces the traditional 擠, whose right side 齊 depicted ears of grain growing evenly. The core sense is to squeeze, press together, or crowd.