お礼
おれい · orei · JLPT N4 · noun
gratitude
🎁 お礼 = polite o + 礼 (rei: courtesy, bow) → a courteous thank-you
礼 (rei) means etiquette or a bow, the same rei called out before class in Japan. The honorific お makes it polite. So お礼 is courtesy made concrete: spoken thanks, a bow, or a small gift given in return for a favour.
礼 — 示 (altar/ritual) + 乚 (simplified from 豊)
Originally 禮, showing 示 (altar) beside 豊 (a ritual vessel of grain), depicting offerings made at a shrine. The character meant religious ceremony, then broadened to social rites, courtesy, and gifts. The simplified form 礼 keeps 示 and replaces 豊 with the abbreviated 乚.