自然而然
zì rán ér rán · HSK 7
automatically
🌿 自然 = natural + 而然 (and so); natural-and-so means it just happens on its own
自然 means natural; tacking on 而然 (literally and-thus) doubles down on the idea, so the whole thing describes something that occurs of its own accord, without being forced or planned.
自 — pictograph of a nose
自 originally depicted a human nose, shown frontally with the bridge and nostrils. Ancient Chinese pointed to their own nose to mean 'me,' so 自 shifted to mean 'self' or 'oneself.' A new character 鼻 was later created to carry the original 'nose' meaning.
而 — pictograph of beard/whiskers hanging from chin
Originally a pictograph of a beard or facial hair hanging below the chin, visible clearly in oracle bone and bronze script forms. The beard meaning was lost early, and the character was borrowed phonetically to write the grammatical conjunction 'and/but/yet'. This connective use has been standard since classical Chinese.