游行
yoú xíng · HSK 6
march
🥁🪧 you sing! — roam (游) + walk (行) = a crowd on the move
Parades and protest marches are crowds roaming and walking together. The pun: yóu xíng sounds like you sing — and marchers do chant slogans as they go.
游 — water radical 氵 + 斿 (banner/streamer)
游 combines the water radical 氵 with 斿, which depicts a banner streaming in the wind. The original sense was a flag fluttering or floating, extended to drifting on water, swimming, and wandering. Today it commonly means to swim, travel, or roam.
行 — crossroads pictograph (left 彳 + right 亍)
行 originally pictured a four-way crossroads in oracle bone script, with two paths meeting. From 'road' it extended to 'walk, go, travel,' and then to 'a row, line' or 'business firm' (read háng). The two halves 彳 and 亍 are the split sides of that ancient crossroads.