昌盛

chāng shèng · HSK 6

prosperous

🌅 昌 = sun+sun (bright/flourishing) + 盛 = abundant; together: prosperous

昌 stacks 日 over 日 — doubled sun, meaning bright or flourishing. 盛 means abundant or thriving (the 成 component gives the chéng/shèng sound). The compound stacks two flourishing words for prosperous.

盛 — 成 (chéng, phonetic) + 皿 (vessel)
A phono-semantic compound: 皿 (a dish or vessel) gives the meaning, while 成 supplies the sound. The original sense was grain heaped into a ritual vessel as an offering, hence 'to fill' or 'contain' (chéng). From 'full to the brim' it extended to 'abundant, flourishing, prosperous' (shèng).

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