药片
yào piàn · HSK 2
a (medicine) pill or tablet
💊 药 (medicine) + 片 (slice/flat piece) = medicine slice → pill/tablet
药 means medicine or drug; 片 means a thin flat piece or slice (same 片 as in 卡片 card). A medicine in flat-slice form is a tablet. The measure word for 药片 is itself 片.
药 — grass radical 艹 + 约 (yuē, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The grass radical 艹 on top signals a plant or herb, reflecting that early Chinese medicines were largely herbal. The component 约 below provides the sound, hinting at the pronunciation yào. The traditional form is 藥.
片 — right half of 木 (tree split vertically)
Pictograph showing the right half of a tree 木 split down the middle, depicting a thin slice or slab of wood. From this came the meanings 'slice,' 'flat thin piece,' and by extension 'sheet' or 'card.' Its mirror image 爿 represents the left half.