音乐会
yīnyuèhuì · HSK 2
concert
🎵🎤 音乐会 = sound + music + meeting (a gathering for music)
音 = sound, 乐 = music/joy, 会 = meeting or gathering. So 音乐会 literally decomposes to a meeting for sound and music — a concert. The 会 component also shows up in 开会 (hold a meeting) and 会议 (conference).
乐 — stylized depiction of a wooden instrument with strings
Originally a pictograph of a wooden frame holding strings or bells, representing a musical instrument. The character first meant 'music' (read yuè), and by extension came to mean 'joy, happiness' (read lè), since music brings pleasure. The simplified form 乐 streamlines the older 樂.
会 — 人 person on top + 云 cloud/say below (simplified from 會)
The traditional form 會 showed a lid over a vessel with contents stacked inside, depicting things coming together — hence 'meet, gather, assemble.' From 'gathering' it extended to 'meeting,' then 'understand' (minds meeting) and 'be able to.' The simplified 会 keeps only a schematic top and bottom.