进来
jìnlái · HSK 1
come in
🚪➡️ 进 = enter + 来 = come; literally 'enter-come' = come in
进 means enter/advance and 来 means come, so 进来 stacks them as 'enter-come' = come in (toward the speaker). Contrast with 进去 'enter-go' = go in (away from the speaker). The 来/去 suffix marks direction relative to you.
进 — walk radical 辶 + well 井
Originally a semantic-phonetic compound: the walking radical 辶 gives the meaning of movement, while 井 (jǐng, 'well') supplied the sound. The traditional form 進 used 隹 (short-tailed bird) suggesting forward flight; the simplified 进 swapped 隹 for the simpler phonetic 井. The core meaning 'to advance, enter' has stayed stable.
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).