进行
jìnxíng · HSK 2
carry on/out
🚶➡️ 进 = enter/advance + 行 = go/walk → advancing-going = in progress
进 means advance/enter; 行 means go or walk. Together they mean an action is moving forward — being carried out or in progress. Common in formal contexts: 进行讨论 (carry out a discussion).
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.
行 — crossroads pictograph (left 彳 + right 亍)
行 originally pictured a four-way crossroads in oracle bone script, with two paths meeting. From 'road' it extended to 'walk, go, travel,' and then to 'a row, line' or 'business firm' (read háng). The two halves 彳 and 亍 are the split sides of that ancient crossroads.