百货
bǎihuò · HSK 4
general merchandise
🏬 百 (hundred) + 货 (goods) = a hundred kinds of goods
百 means hundred and 货 means goods or merchandise. Together 百货 literally reads as hundred-goods, the Chinese term for general merchandise — the same logic behind 百货商店, a department store.
百 — 一 (one) on top of 白 (white)
百 means 'hundred.' It combines 一 (one) above 白 (white), where 白 here is borrowed for its sound rather than its meaning. Some scholars see it as derived from an early form of 白 with an added stroke to mark the new numerical sense.
货 — 化 (huà, phonetic) + 貝 (shell, money)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 貝 (cowrie shell) signals money or commerce, while 化 supplies the sound. Cowries served as ancient Chinese currency, so 货 originally meant valuables exchanged for shells, later broadening to 'goods' or 'merchandise'.