眼镜

yǎnjìng · HSK 4

spectacles

眼镜 — spectacles

👓 眼镜 = eye + mirror/lens

眼 means eye; 镜 means mirror or lens (same 镜 as in 镜子 mirror). So 眼镜 literally reads as eye-lenses — the Chinese term for glasses or spectacles.

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'.

More Chinese words · How Chinese works