迎接
yíngjiē · HSK 3
greet
🤝 迎接 = 迎 (welcome) + 接 (receive/meet)
Two near-synonyms stacked: 迎 means to go out and welcome, 接 means to receive or meet. Together they cover the full act of greeting an arrival — from heading out to meet them through to receiving them.
迎 — walk radical 辶 + 卬 (phonetic)
迎 is a phono-semantic compound: 辶 (walk/movement) gives the meaning of going toward someone, while 卬 supplies the sound (close to yíng). 卬 originally depicted a person looking up, reinforcing the idea of facing or greeting. Together the character means 'to welcome' or 'meet'.
接 — hand 扌 + concubine 妾 (phonetic)
接 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 carries the meaning of receiving or joining with the hand, while 妾 supplies the sound. From 'taking with the hand' it broadened to 'receive, meet, connect, join together'.