銀行
ぎんこう · ginkou · JLPT N5 · noun
bank
🏦 銀行 = silver (銀) + firm/trade house (行): the silver house
銀 means silver, the metal once used as money across East Asia; 行 here means a trading firm or guild. So a bank is literally the silver firm. Sound hook: gin (silver) + kou, like a company (Co.) that deals in silver.
行 — crossroads pictograph (left 彳 + right 亍)
行 originally pictured a four-way crossroads in oracle bone script, with two paths meeting. From 'road' it extended to 'walk, go, travel,' and then to 'a row, line' or 'business firm' (read háng). The two halves 彳 and 亍 are the split sides of that ancient crossroads.