醒来
xǐnglái · HSK 7
wake up
⏰ 醒 = wake/sober up + 来 = come; literally come-awake = wake up
醒 means to wake or sober up; 来 means come. Together the action comes toward you: you come into wakefulness. The 来 also signals motion toward the present moment, marking the shift from asleep to awake.
醒 — wine/alcohol 酉 + star 星 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 酉 depicts a wine jar and gives the meaning 'related to alcohol' — originally 'to sober up from drunkenness.' The right side 星 (xīng) supplies the sound. The meaning later broadened to 'wake up' and 'become aware.'
来 — pictograph of a wheat plant with grain heads
来 originally depicted a stalk of wheat with drooping grain heads, and meant 'wheat' in oracle bone script. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the unrelated verb 'to come,' which became its dominant meaning. The original 'wheat' sense was taken over by 麥 (now 麦).