予想
よそう · yosou · JLPT N3 · noun
prediction
🔮 予想 = beforehand + think: thinking it through before it happens
予 means in advance, as in 予約 (reservation) and 予定 (plan). 想 means to think or ponder, as in 感想 (impressions). So thinking ahead of time gives you a prediction. Sound hook: yosou, as in yo, so you think it will rain?
想 — heart 心 + 相 (xiāng, phonetic)
想 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 心 at the bottom carries the meaning, since classical Chinese located thought and feeling in the heart. The top component 相 (xiāng) supplies the sound, and over time the character settled into the senses 'to think,' 'to want,' and 'to miss.'