利口
りこう · rikou · JLPT N3 · na-adj
clever
🦊 利口 = sharp + mouth: a sharp tongue marks a clever, quick mind
利 means sharp or advantageous, as in a keen blade; 口 is mouth. A sharp mouth is someone who speaks cleverly, so 利口 means bright or shrewd. Note: when said of a child it is praise, but it can also mean cheeky or too smart.
利 — grain 禾 + knife 刂
Originally a pictograph showing a knife (刂) cutting grain (禾), depicting harvest. From the idea of a sharp blade reaping crops, it extended to mean 'sharp,' then 'benefit,' 'profit,' or 'advantage' — the gain that comes from a successful harvest.
口 — pictograph of an open mouth
口 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally drawn as a simple outline of an open mouth. Its core meaning 'mouth' extended naturally to 'opening' or 'entrance', as in 入口 (entrance). It also serves as a common radical in characters related to speech, eating, or apertures.