核电站
hé diàn zhàn · HSK 7
nuclear power plant
☢️⚡ 核 nucleus + 电 electric + 站 station = nuclear power plant
核 (hé) is nucleus/atomic core, 电 (diàn) is electricity, 站 (zhàn) is a station or stop. Stack them: an atomic-core electricity station. 站 is the same character used in 车站 (train station).
核 — wood 木 + 亥 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 木 ('wood/tree') gives the meaning, while 亥 supplies the sound. It originally referred to a hard-shelled fruit pit or kernel inside wood/fruit, then extended figuratively to 'core,' 'nucleus,' and in modern usage 'nuclear' (as in atomic nucleus).
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.
站 — 立 (stand) + 占 (zhàn, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 立 'to stand' gives the meaning, while 占 supplies the sound zhàn. Originally meaning 'to stand upright,' it later extended to 'a place where one stops or stands,' giving modern senses like station or stop.