门票
ménpiào · HSK 1
entrance/admission ticket
🎟️ 门 = door/gate + 票 = ticket → ticket for the gate
门 means gate or door; 票 means ticket or slip. Together 门票 is the slip that gets you through the gate — an admission ticket or entrance fee.
门 — pictograph of double-leaf gate
门 is a pictograph showing a pair of swinging doors hung in a doorway, originally drawn as 門 in oracle-bone script with two clear leaves. The simplified form 门 keeps the same outline with fewer strokes. It still means 'gate' or 'door' and serves as a phonetic in characters like 们, 问, and 闷.
票 — fire 火 (bottom) + 覀 (cover/west)
Originally written with 火 (fire) below 覀, depicting sparks or embers rising from a fire. The early meaning was 'flying sparks' or 'light, floating thing.' Over time it shifted to mean a slip of paper, ticket, or note — something light and easily passed around.