频道
píndào · HSK 5
channel
📺📻 频 = frequency + 道 = way/path; a frequency-path is a channel
频 carries the sense of frequency or repeated occurrence, and 道 means way or path. Together they name the path a signal travels on — a TV or radio channel, or any transmission frequency.
道 — 辶 (walk) + 首 (head)
Originally a compound of 辶 'walk/movement' and 首 'head', depicting a path one walks while looking ahead. The literal sense 'road, way' extended metaphorically to 'method, doctrine, the Way (Dao)'. This philosophical meaning became central in Daoist and Confucian thought.