刺身
さしみ · sashimi · JLPT N2 · noun
fish
🐟 刺身 = 刺 (pierce, stab) + 身 (body, flesh): fish flesh cut into thin slices
刺 means to pierce or stab, and 身 means body or flesh. Sashimi is raw fish flesh cut with a sharp knife, so the word joins the cutting action with the fish meat.
刺 — thorn 朿 (phonetic) + knife 刂 (meaning)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The knife radical 刂 carries the meaning of cutting or piercing, while 朿 (a thorn) supplies both the sound and reinforces the idea of something sharp. Original sense was 'to stab' or 'pierce', later extended to 'thorn', 'sting', and figuratively 'to criticize sharply'.
身 — pictograph of a pregnant body
身 is a pictograph originally depicting a person with a swollen belly, representing a pregnant woman in profile. Over time the meaning broadened from 'pregnancy' or 'torso' to refer to the body in general, and by extension oneself or one's person.