眼
yǎn · HSK 2
eye
👁️ 眼 = 目 (eye radical) + 艮 (phonetic, gives the yǎn sound)
The 目 radical on the left marks this as eye-related; 艮 on the right is the phonetic component. Beyond literal eyes, 眼 extends to small openings (针眼 needle's eye) and key/critical points (字眼 the crucial word).
眼 — eye radical 目 + 艮 (phonetic)
眼 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 目 means 'eye' and gives the meaning, while 艮 on the right supplies the sound. Originally referring to the eyeball, it broadened over time to mean 'eye' generally and, by extension, 'a hole' or 'key point'.