金字塔
jīn zì tǎ · HSK 7
pyramid
金字塔 = gold-character + tower: the 金 character is shaped like a pyramid
塔 means tower or pagoda. The name is literally the 金-shaped tower, because the character 金 has a wide base and pointed top, the same outline as a pyramid.
金 — roof 亼 + two dots (metal nuggets) + earth 土
Originally a pictograph of metal nuggets buried in the earth beneath a covering, with the two dots representing pieces of ore. It first meant 'metal' broadly, then narrowed to 'gold' as the most precious metal, and by extension 'money'.
字 — roof 宀 + child 子
Originally depicted a child 子 under a roof 宀, suggesting birth or rearing a child in the home. The meaning later extended to 'to give birth, nurture' and then to 'written character', since characters were seen as offspring derived from earlier pictographs.
塔 — earth 土 + grass 艹 + 合
塔 is a phono-semantic compound. The earth radical 土 on the left signals the meaning, since pagodas and towers are built structures rising from the ground. The right side 荅 (a kind of bean) supplies the sound. The character was coined in medieval China to translate Sanskrit 'stūpa,' the Buddhist reliquary tower.