旅行社
lǔxíngshè · HSK 3
travel agency
✈️🏢 旅 travel + 行 go + 社 agency/company = travel-go agency
旅行 (lǚxíng) means to travel, literally travel + go. 社 (shè) denotes an organized group or company, the same character in 公司's cousin 社团 and in 出版社 (publishing house). So 旅行社 is plainly a travel company.
行 — crossroads pictograph (left 彳 + right 亍)
行 originally pictured a four-way crossroads in oracle bone script, with two paths meeting. From 'road' it extended to 'walk, go, travel,' and then to 'a row, line' or 'business firm' (read háng). The two halves 彳 and 亍 are the split sides of that ancient crossroads.
社 — 示 (altar/spirit) + 土 (earth)
Originally referred to the god of the soil and the altar where villagers worshipped it. The 示 component signals ritual or spirits, while 土 means earth, together evoking a community shrine. The meaning later broadened to 'community' and 'society'.