和
hé · HSK 1
and
🌾 和 = 禾 (grain) + 口 (mouth) — sharing grain by mouth means harmony
The left side 禾 is a stalk of grain; the right side 口 is a mouth. Sharing food peacefully gives the core sense of harmony, gentleness, and 'with/and'. Same character also reads hè (to join in) and huó (to mix).
和 — grain 禾 (phonetic) + mouth 口
和 is a phono-semantic compound: 禾 (grain) gives the sound and 口 (mouth) hints at meaning, originally suggesting voices joining in agreement or song. From this it came to mean harmony, peace, and 'together with'. In Japanese it also became the native word for Japan itself.