纪念日
jì niàn rì · HSK 7
day of commemoration
📅🎗️ 纪念 = commemorate + 日 = day; a day set aside to remember something
纪 carries the sense of recording or marking, 念 means to think of or miss someone, so 纪念 is to keep a memory marked. Add 日 (day) and you get the set date for honoring an event or person.
念 — 今 (now, phonetic) + 心 (heart)
念 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 心 (heart) gives the meaning, while 今 (now) supplies the sound. The original sense was 'what is on the heart right now' — a thought held in mind. From this came the modern meanings 'to think of,' 'to miss,' and 'to recite' (holding words in mind).
日 — pictograph of the sun
日 is a pictograph of the sun, originally drawn as a circle with a dot or stroke inside representing the sun's substance. Over time the round shape was squared off into the modern rectangular form. It means 'sun' and by extension 'day'.