笼罩
lóngzhào · HSK 7
envelop
🌫️ 笼 = cage/cover + 罩 = cover/hood; a cage-cover settles over everything
Both characters mean to cover: 笼 is a bamboo cage or cover, 罩 is a hood or shade. Doubled, they mean fog or darkness enveloping and shrouding a whole area. Sound: lóngzhào, with the long ó echoing the spread of mist.
罩 — net 罒 (top) + zhuō 卓 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The top component 罒 is the 'net' radical, signaling the meaning of something that covers or traps, while 卓 supplies the sound (zhuō → zhào). The original sense was a bamboo fish trap or cover, which broadened to mean 'to cover, cover over,' as in a lampshade or fume hood.