长城
chángchéng · HSK 3
Great Wall
🧱 长 cháng (long) + 城 chéng (wall/city) = the Long Wall
长 means long; 城 originally meant a walled city, later just wall. Together 长城 literally reads as long-wall — the Chinese name for the Great Wall, also used figuratively for any impregnable bulwark.
长 — pictograph of long-haired person with cane
Originally a pictograph showing a person with long, flowing hair leaning on a cane, representing an elder. The meaning extended from 'long hair' to 'long' in general, and also to 'elder' or 'to grow' (read zhǎng). The modern form 长 is a simplification of the traditional 長.
城 — earth radical 土 + 成 (to complete)
Originally a semantic-phonetic compound: 土 (earth) gives the meaning, since ancient cities were defended by rammed-earth walls, while 成 supplies the sound. The earliest meaning was 'city wall,' which later broadened to 'walled city' and then simply 'city' or 'town.'