分解
ぶんかい · bunkai · JLPT N2 · noun
analysis
🧩 分 = divide + 解 = untie: split a whole into parts to study it
分 means divide or separate, and 解 means untangle or solve. Together they describe taking something apart into its pieces, whether a machine or an idea. That one word covers both 'disassembly' and 'analysis'.
分 — knife 刀 + eight 八 (split apart)
分 originally depicted a knife (刀) cutting something into two parts, shown by 八 above (which itself meant 'divide'). The core sense is 'to divide' or 'split', from which extended meanings like 'portion', 'minute', and 'part' developed. Pronounced fèn, it carries the sense of an allotted share.
解 — horn 角 + knife 刀 + ox 牛
解 is an ideograph showing hands using a knife (刀) to separate the horn (角) from an ox (牛). The original meaning was to butcher or dismember an ox, which broadened to 'untie, separate, loosen,' and then extended figuratively to 'explain' or 'understand'—to take something apart mentally.