酒楼
jiǔ loú · HSK 7
restaurant
🍷🏯 酒楼 = 酒 wine + 楼 building; a wine-building tavern, i.e. a restaurant
酒 jiǔ means wine or alcohol; 楼 lóu means a multi-storey building. A wine-building was historically a multi-floor tavern serving food and drink, so 酒楼 now just means a restaurant.
酒 — water 氵 + 酉 (wine vessel)
酒 combines 氵 (water) with 酉, an ancient pictograph of a wine jar with a narrow neck. 酉 alone originally meant fermented liquor, but as it was borrowed for the tenth earthly branch, the water radical was added to keep the 'alcoholic drink' meaning clear.
楼 — wood radical 木 + 婁 (lóu, phonetic)
楼 is a phono-semantic compound. The 木 radical signals wood, fitting a multi-storied wooden building, while 婁 supplies the lóu sound. Originally written 樓, it referred to a tower or upper story, and today means a multi-floor building or a specific floor.