盛行
shèngxíng · HSK 6
be in vogue
🔥📈 shèng (flourishing) + xíng (moving) = prosperity on the move
When something is flourishing and spreading everywhere, it is in vogue. Think of a trend that keeps moving through the population — shèngxíng captures that unstoppable momentum of popularity.
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).
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.