账户
zhàng hù · HSK 6
account
🏦 账 (ledger) + 户 (door/household) = the door to your ledger
A 账 is a financial record or ledger. A 户 is a door or household — by extension, an entry point. Together they form the entry point to your financial records: an account, whether at a bank or online.
账 — shell radical 贝 + length 长
账 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The shell radical 贝 (originally cowrie shells used as money) signals a connection to wealth or financial matters, while 长 (zhǎng/cháng) provides the sound. It means 'account' or 'debt,' and is a later variant of the older form 帳.
户 — single-leaf door (half of 門)
户 is a pictograph showing a single-leaf door, originally drawn as half of 門 (a double door). It came to mean 'door,' then by extension 'household' or 'family,' since a door marks one dwelling. Today it commonly means 'household' or 'account.'