料
liào · HSK 6
stuff
🌾 米 rice + 斗 measure — portioned grain becomes raw material
Rice scooped out with a measuring dipper was the original stuff you worked with. The meaning broadened from grain feed to any material or ingredient.
料 — rice 米 + dipper 斗
料 combines 米 (rice/grain) with 斗 (a measuring dipper), depicting the act of measuring out grain. From this concrete sense it extended to 'to measure, estimate, anticipate' and to 'materials' (things measured out for use), as in 材料 'materials' and 预料 'to anticipate'.