磁卡
cí kǎ · HSK 7
card
💳🧲 cí kǎ = magnet + card — sounds like see card
磁 (cí) means magnetism and 卡 (kǎ) means card. Together: magnetic card. The loanword 卡 echoes English card. Think: swipe to see your card work — cí kǎ, see card.
卡 — 上 (up) + 下 (down)
卡 is a modern compound formed by stacking 上 'up' on 下 'down', visually depicting something stuck between two positions — neither up nor down. From this 'wedged' image come its core meanings: to block, to get stuck, and a checkpoint or card. The reading kǎ also transcribes foreign words like 'card', while qiǎ keeps the older 'pinch/stuck' sense.