到着
とうちゃく · touchaku · JLPT N3 · noun
arrival
🛬 到 arrive + 着 reach (as in 着く) = arrival; touchaku starts like touchdown
到 means to reach a destination (as in 到達), and 着 is the kanji in 着く, to arrive. Put two arrive kanji together and you get the noun arrival. The sound helps too: touchaku starts like touchdown, the moment a plane lands.
到 — 刂 knife + 至 (phonetic, 'arrive')
到 is a semantic-phonetic compound. 至 ('to arrive') gives both meaning and sound, while 刂 (knife) was added later, likely as a phonetic reinforcer or to distinguish the written form. The core sense 'to arrive, reach' comes directly from 至, and 到 has carried that meaning since early script forms.
着 — sheep 羊 (top) + eye 目 (bottom)
着 originated as a variant of 著, which depicted plants emerging visibly above ground (grass radical 艹 over 者). Over time 着 split off to carry meanings like 'attach,' 'wear,' or a verb suffix marking ongoing action (zhe), while 著 kept senses like 'manifest' or 'author.'