一層
いっそう · issou · JLPT N3 · adverb
still more
🎂 一層 = one + layer: add one more layer and it's issou, it's so much more
層 means layer or storey, as in 二層 (two storeys). 一層 means one extra layer on top of what is already there, so it means even more. Example: 一層努力する means to try even harder. Sound hook: issou sounds like it's so, as in it's so much more.
一 — single horizontal stroke
一 is one of the simplest pictographs in Chinese, depicting a single horizontal line to represent the number one. It has retained essentially the same form since oracle bone script over 3,000 years ago. By extension it also means 'first,' 'whole,' or 'same.'