邮局
yóujú · HSK 4
post office
📮🏤 邮局 = mail/post (邮) + office/bureau (局)
邮 carries the sense of post or mail delivery, while 局 means bureau or office — the same 局 found in 书局 (bookstore) and 警察局 (police station). Together: the bureau that handles the mail.
邮 — 由 (cause) + 阝 (city radical 邑)
邮 means 'post, mail.' The right-side 阝 derives from 邑 (city/settlement), pointing to relay stations along roads. The simplified form pairs this with 由, which here mainly carries the sound. Historically 邮 referred to the courier posts where messengers changed horses to relay official messages.
局 — 尸 (body/shelter) + 句 (phrase, phonetic)
局 originally depicted a confined space marked off by a boundary, with 尸 suggesting an enclosed shelter and 句 hinting at the sound. From 'enclosed area' it extended to mean a chessboard square, then a defined situation, office, or bureau. Modern senses like 'department' and 'situation' grew from this idea of a bounded scope.