院长
yuànzhǎng · HSK 2
director/president
🏛️ 院 yuàn = courtyard/institution + 长 zhǎng = chief/head
院 originally meant a walled courtyard, extended to institutions (hospitals, academies, museums). 长 means elder or chief. So 院长 = chief of the institution — director, dean, or president.
院 — left ear 阝(阜) + complete 完
院 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left 阝 (from 阜, mound/hill) suggests walls or enclosed terrain, hinting at an enclosed space. The right 完 (wán) provides the sound and originally meant 'complete', so 院 came to mean a walled courtyard or institution like a hospital or academy.
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.