电影院
diànyǐngyuàn · HSK 1
cinema
🎬🍿 电 + 影 + 院 = electric + shadow + courtyard
Chinese for cinema literally stacks 电 (electric) + 影 (shadow/image) + 院 (courtyard/public hall). Early Chinese coined 电影 (electric shadows) for movies, then added 院 for the venue where they're shown.
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.
院 — left ear 阝(阜) + complete 完
院 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left 阝 (from 阜, mound/hill) suggests walls or enclosed terrain, hinting at an enclosed space. The right 完 (wán) provides the sound and originally meant 'complete', so 院 came to mean a walled courtyard or institution like a hospital or academy.