公路 (gōng lù)

Character breakdown

• 公 (gōng) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of a earthen jar for holding liquid, now written as 瓮. The current meaning "public" is a phonetic loan.

• 路 (Lù) · 13 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 足 represents the meaning and 各 represents the sound.