走行
そうこう · soukou · JLPT N1 · noun
gram
🚗 走 (run) + 行 (go) = a wheeled vehicle that runs and goes down the road
走 means run or walk and 行 means go or travel. Together they describe a vehicle moving on its wheels, as in 自動車の走行 (a car driving) or 走行距離 (distance driven).
走 — person running 夭 + foot 止
Originally a pictograph of a person with arms swinging (夭) above a foot (止), depicting someone running. The bottom 止 (foot) was later simplified to a form resembling 火 in modern script. The original sense was 'to run,' which still survives in compounds; the everyday meaning shifted to 'to walk' or 'to go.'
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.