电影
diàn yǐng · HSK 1
movie
🎬 电 (electric) + 影 (shadow) = electric shadows = movie
电 means electricity and 影 means shadow or image. Early Chinese coined 电影 as electric shadows to describe the flickering projected images of cinema. The compound literally reads electricity-shadow.
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.