银行卡
yín háng kǎ · HSK 2
bank card
💳 银行卡 = silver + business + card → bank card
银 (silver/money) + 行 (business/firm, also read xíng meaning to walk) + 卡 (card, a sound-loan from English 'card'). 银行 literally 'silver business' is the standard word for bank.
银 — metal radical 钅 + 艮 (phonetic)
银 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 钅 (the metal radical, from 金) signals the meaning category—metals. The right side 艮 supplies the sound. Originally referring to silver as a metal, it later extended to mean money, currency, and bank-related terms.
行 — crossroads pictograph (left 彳 + right 亍)
行 originally pictured a four-way crossroads in oracle bone script, with two paths meeting. From 'road' it extended to 'walk, go, travel,' and then to 'a row, line' or 'business firm' (read háng). The two halves 彳 and 亍 are the split sides of that ancient crossroads.
卡 — 上 (up) + 下 (down)
卡 is a modern compound formed by stacking 上 'up' on 下 'down', visually depicting something stuck between two positions — neither up nor down. From this 'wedged' image come its core meanings: to block, to get stuck, and a checkpoint or card. The reading kǎ also transcribes foreign words like 'card', while qiǎ keeps the older 'pinch/stuck' sense.