丁寧
ていねい · teinei · JLPT N4 · na-adj
polite
🍵 丁寧 = 丁 (exact, squared-off) + 寧 (calm): careful and courteous
Sounds like tea-nay: a host who never says nay to pouring your tea with care. One word covers both polite manners and careful, thorough work, as in 丁寧に書く (to write neatly) and 丁寧な人 (a courteous person).
丁 — single stroke pictograph, originally a nail
丁 is a pictograph of a nail viewed from above or the side, showing the head and shaft. Its original meaning was 'nail,' later extended to 'sturdy adult male,' then to general senses like 'individual person' or 'fourth' in ordinal lists. The 'nail' meaning is now written 釘.