许多
xǔduō · HSK 2
lot
📚 许多 = 许 (allow/many) + 多 (many) — doubled 'many' for emphasis
许 on its own can mean 'permit' or 'somewhat/many', and 多 means 'many/much'. Stacking two 'many-ish' morphemes intensifies the count, so 许多 lands as 'a lot of' or 'numerous'.
许 — speech radical 讠 (言) + 午 (noon/phonetic)
许 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 讠 (speech) radical signals a meaning tied to spoken acts, while 午 supplies the sound. Its core senses — to permit, promise, or praise — all stem from things granted through words.
多 — two 夕 (evening) stacked
多 originally depicted two pieces of meat (夕, a variant of 肉) stacked together, suggesting abundance. Over time it was reanalyzed as two 'evenings' piled up — many evenings meaning many days, hence 'many, much'. The doubling itself conveys quantity.