追悼会
zhuī dào huì · HSK 7
a memorial service
🕯️🥀 追 zhuī chase + 悼 dào mourn + 会 huì gathering = a gathering to mourn the departed
追悼 means to mourn or pay tribute to the dead (追 = pursue/look back + 悼 = grieve), and 会 marks it as a formal meeting, so 追悼会 is the memorial service held to honor someone who has died.
追 — 辶 (walk) + 𠂤 (small mound/heap)
Originally a semantic-phonetic compound: 辶 ('walk/movement') gives the meaning of going after something, while 𠂤 supplied the ancient sound. Early bronze inscriptions show it meaning to chase or pursue an enemy. The modern senses — 'pursue,' 'chase after,' 'retroactively' — all extend from this original idea of following in motion.
会 — 人 person on top + 云 cloud/say below (simplified from 會)
The traditional form 會 showed a lid over a vessel with contents stacked inside, depicting things coming together — hence 'meet, gather, assemble.' From 'gathering' it extended to 'meeting,' then 'understand' (minds meeting) and 'be able to.' The simplified 会 keeps only a schematic top and bottom.