无数
wúshù · HSK 4
thousand
♾️ 无数 = without (无) + number (数) — too many to count
无 means 'without/none' and 数 means 'number/count'. Together they literally say 'no number' — i.e. uncountable, innumerable. Same 无 as in 无聊 (boring = without interest) and same 数 as in 数学 (math = number study).
无 — top 一 + 林-like middle + fire radical 灬 below
Originally a pictograph of a person dancing while holding ornaments or tassels, meaning 'to dance' — the ancestor of 舞. It was borrowed phonetically to write the negative 'not have / without,' and the dance meaning was reassigned to 舞 with an added foot element. The simplified form 无 comes from an ancient variant.
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'.