盛会
shèng huì · HSK 7
distinguished meeting
🎪 盛 grand + 会 meeting = a grand gathering, a distinguished event
盛 means flourishing or grand (same 盛 as in 盛大, grand), and 会 means meeting or gathering (as in 会议). Stack them and you get a grand gathering: a pageant or distinguished meeting. Sounds like shng-hway.
盛 — 成 (chéng, phonetic) + 皿 (vessel)
A phono-semantic compound: 皿 (a dish or vessel) gives the meaning, while 成 supplies the sound. The original sense was grain heaped into a ritual vessel as an offering, hence 'to fill' or 'contain' (chéng). From 'full to the brim' it extended to 'abundant, flourishing, prosperous' (shèng).
会 — 人 person on top + 云 cloud/say below (simplified from 會)
The traditional form 會 showed a lid over a vessel with contents stacked inside, depicting things coming together — hence 'meet, gather, assemble.' From 'gathering' it extended to 'meeting,' then 'understand' (minds meeting) and 'be able to.' The simplified 会 keeps only a schematic top and bottom.