港口
gǎngkǒu · HSK 6
port
⚓ 港口 = harbour + mouth/opening
港 means harbour and 口 means mouth or opening, so 港口 is literally the mouth of the harbour — the entry point where ships come in. The 口 suffix often marks an opening (entrance, exit, port).
港 — water radical 氵 + 巷 (alley)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 氵 (water) gives the meaning, while 巷 (alley) supplies the sound. Originally referred to a branch of a river or a small waterway, then extended to mean a sheltered inlet where boats could moor — a harbor or port.
口 — pictograph of an open mouth
口 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally drawn as a simple outline of an open mouth. Its core meaning 'mouth' extended naturally to 'opening' or 'entrance', as in 入口 (entrance). It also serves as a common radical in characters related to speech, eating, or apertures.