大金
たいきん · taikin · JLPT N1 · noun
money
💰 大 (big) + 金 (gold, money) = big money, so 大金 = a large amount of money
大 means big and 金 means gold or money. Put together, they name a large sum of money. Pronounced taikin, with the stress on the first syllable.
大 — pictograph of a person with arms outstretched
大 is a pictograph showing a person standing with arms and legs spread wide. The outstretched arms suggest 'big' or 'great', extending from the literal image of a large stance to abstract meanings like important or grand. It is one of the oldest characters, found 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'.