刑事
けいじ · keiji · JLPT N3 · noun
case
🕵️ 刑事 = punishment + matter; keiji sounds like cagey, as a detective is
刑 means punishment or penalty, as in 刑法 (criminal law), and 事 means matter or affair. A punishment matter is a criminal case, and in Japanese the word also names the police detective who works on one.
事 — hand 又 holding a banner/tablet on a pole
Originally a pictograph of a hand (又) grasping a pole or ceremonial banner used by an official, depicting the act of conducting court business. From this it came to mean 'affair, matter, business, service.' It shares an ancient origin with 史 (scribe) and 吏 (official).