都会
dūhuì · HSK 7
city
🏙️ 都 (all/capital) + 会 (gather) = where everyone gathers — a big city
都 can mean capital or all, and 会 means to meet or gather. A metropolis is literally the place where all people come together. The dū reading of 都 specifically evokes capital city, reinforcing the urban meaning.
都 — 者 (phonetic) + 邑/阝 (city radical)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The right-side 阝 (a reduced form of 邑 'city, settlement') gives the meaning, while 者 supplies the sound. Originally it referred to a capital or major city, and later extended to mean 'all' or 'even' when read dōu.
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.