购物 (gòu wù)

Character breakdown

• 购 (gòu) · 8 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 勾 represents the sound. Simplified form of 購.

• 物 (wù) · 8 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 牛 represents the meaning and 勿 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "variety", depicting the variety of colors on a cow. Later the meaning shifted to "things".