黄金
huángjīn · HSK 4
gold
🪙 黄金 = yellow + metal
黄 (huáng) means yellow and 金 (jīn) means metal or gold. Together, yellow-metal literally names the precious metal gold. The compound is transparent once you know each character.
黄 — 廿 + 田 (or 由) + 八
Originally a pictograph of a person wearing a jade belt-pendant (huang), later borrowed to mean the color yellow. The modern shape is stylized and no longer transparent. It is one of the oldest Chinese characters, attested on oracle bones.
金 — roof 亼 + two dots (metal nuggets) + earth 土
Originally a pictograph of metal nuggets buried in the earth beneath a covering, with the two dots representing pieces of ore. It first meant 'metal' broadly, then narrowed to 'gold' as the most precious metal, and by extension 'money'.