伸びる
のびる · nobiru · JLPT N3 · verb-ichidan
to grow
🌱 nobiru sounds like no barrier: it keeps stretching and growing
伸 = 亻 person + 申 to stretch out, so a person stretching. It covers anything that lengthens or improves: hair grows (髪が伸びる), sales rise, skills progress. Noodles left too long also 伸びる: they go soggy.
伸 — person radical 亻 + 申 (extend/state)
伸 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 亻 (person) gives the meaning, suggesting a body action, while 申 originally depicted lightning stretching across the sky and supplies the sound. Together they convey the idea of a person stretching or extending.