広告
こうこく · koukoku · JLPT N3 · noun
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📢 広告 = wide + announce: telling everyone at once
広 (kō) means wide or broad, as in 広い (hiroi, spacious). 告 (koku) means to tell or announce, as in 報告 (hōkoku, report). An advertisement is a message announced to the wide public. The two sounds also echo each other: kō-koku.
告 — ox 牛 (top) + mouth 口
Originally a pictograph showing an ox with something on its head, possibly a yoke or sacrificial marker, combined with 口 (mouth) to suggest announcing or reporting. The character came to mean 'to tell' or 'to announce,' as in making a formal declaration. Today it commonly appears in words like 告诉 (to tell) and 报告 (report).