接下来
jiēxiàlái · HSK 2
next
⏭️ 接下来 = receive + down + come; what comes down to you next
接 means to receive or connect, 下 is down/next, 来 is come. Together: what comes down the line to you — i.e. the next thing. Common as a discourse marker meaning 'next up' or 'following this'.
接 — hand 扌 + concubine 妾 (phonetic)
接 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 carries the meaning of receiving or joining with the hand, while 妾 supplies the sound. From 'taking with the hand' it broadened to 'receive, meet, connect, join together'.
下 — horizontal line 一 + mark below
下 is an indicative character: a long horizontal line represents a reference level, and a shorter stroke placed beneath it points to the area below. The original meaning 'below, down' comes directly from this spatial diagram, and it later extended to verbs like 'descend' and 'lower'.
来 — pictograph of a wheat plant with grain heads
来 originally depicted a stalk of wheat with drooping grain heads, and meant 'wheat' in oracle bone script. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the unrelated verb 'to come,' which became its dominant meaning. The original 'wheat' sense was taken over by 麥 (now 麦).