数字
shùzì · HSK 2
amount
🔢 数字 = 数 (count) + 字 (character) — counting-characters = digits
数 means count or number, 字 means written character. Together they name the written symbols used for counting: digits or numerals. Same logic as 汉字 (Han-characters) and 文字 (writing-characters).
数 — 婁 (lóu, phonetic) + 攵 (action radical)
数 is a phono-semantic compound. The right side 攵 (a hand holding a stick) suggests an action, originally tallying or counting by striking marks. The left side 婁 supplies the sound. Over time the meaning broadened from 'to count' to 'number' and 'several'.
字 — roof 宀 + child 子
Originally depicted a child 子 under a roof 宀, suggesting birth or rearing a child in the home. The meaning later extended to 'to give birth, nurture' and then to 'written character', since characters were seen as offspring derived from earlier pictographs.