迎来
yínglái · HSK 6
Ushered
🚪👋 welcome (迎) + come (来) = ushered in, greeting arrivals at the door
迎 means to welcome or greet, 来 means to come or arrive. Together they describe formally receiving something — ushering in a new era, a season, or an honored guest.
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'.
来 — pictograph of a wheat plant with grain heads
来 originally depicted a stalk of wheat with drooping grain heads, and meant 'wheat' in oracle bone script. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the unrelated verb 'to come,' which became its dominant meaning. The original 'wheat' sense was taken over by 麥 (now 麦).