股份
gǔfèn · HSK 7
share
📊 股 (thigh/share) + 份 (portion) = a portion-share, i.e. equity
股 originally meant thigh, then a section or branch, then a share of ownership. 份 means a portion or part. Together: a portioned share — your slice of a company's equity or stake.
股 — meat/flesh 月 (肉) + weapon 殳
Originally a semantic-phonetic compound: 月 (a form of 肉 'flesh') gives the meaning of a body part — the thigh — while 殳 hints at the sound. The thigh meaning extended to 'section' or 'portion,' and from there to modern senses like a strand of something or a share of stock.
份 — person 亻+ divide 分
份 combines the person radical 亻with 分 (fēn, 'divide'), which provides both meaning and sound. Originally a variant used for a person's share or portion, it came to mean a 'part,' 'share,' or 'copy' (as of a document), and now serves as a measure word for portions and copies.