桥梁
qiáo liáng · HSK 6
bridge
🌉 qiáo liáng = tall arch + strong beam — a bridge needs both
The first character 桥 (qiáo) means bridge on its own, built from the wood radical 木. The second 梁 (liáng) means beam or ridge — the structural support. Together they form the full word for bridge, and by extension any link connecting two sides.
桥 — wood radical 木 + 乔 (qiáo, tall)
桥 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 木 radical signals 'wood,' since early bridges were made of timber, while 乔 (qiáo, meaning tall or lofty) supplies the sound and hints at the arched, raised shape of a bridge. The combined character means 'bridge.'