否定
ひてい · hitei · JLPT N3 · noun
negation
🚫 否 (no) + 定 (settle) = settling on a no, so a denial
否 means no or not, as in 否 (いな, no). 定 means to fix or decide, as in 決定 (decision). Put together, 否定 is deciding firmly that something is not so. Its opposite is 肯定 (こうてい), affirmation.
定 — roof 宀 + 正 (correct/upright, phonetic)
Originally written with 宀 (roof) over 正 (upright/correct), suggesting a household settled and orderly under its roof. Over time 正 simplified to 㐬-like form at the bottom, and the meaning shifted from 'settled home' to the broader senses of 'fix, stable, decide.'