来电
lái diàn · HSK 7
call
📞 来电 = 来 (come) + 电 (electric) = electricity coming in: an incoming call or message
来 means come/arrive and 电 means electric (also short for telephone/telegram). Put together, something electric is coming to you — a call, message, or telegram lights up your phone.
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).
电 — rain 雨 + lightning tail 电
Originally a pictograph of lightning streaking from a cloud, written 電 with the rain radical 雨 on top. The bottom 电 depicts the zigzag flash itself. The simplified form 电 drops 雨 and keeps just the lightning shape. Meaning extended from 'lightning' to 'electricity' in modern usage.