割れる
われる · wareru · JLPT N4 · verb-ichidan
to break
🥚 割 = harm 害 + knife 刂: a blade splits it, so it breaks apart
割れる is the intransitive partner of 割る (to split): the thing cracks on its own, like a plate, glass or egg. Sound hook: wareru — the plate WAs REnt in two. Same 割 as in 割引 (discount), a price split off.
割 — 害 (harm, phonetic) + 刂 (knife radical)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the knife radical 刂 gives the meaning 'cut,' while 害 supplies the sound. The original sense was to cut or slice with a blade, which extended to 'divide' and 'allot a share.' Modern uses like 割爱 (give up something dear) preserve this idea of cutting away.