場所
ばしょ · basho · JLPT N4 · noun
topographic point
📍 場所 = 場 (site, ba) + 所 (spot, sho): a site-spot, i.e. a place
Both kanji mean place on their own: 場 (ba) as in 場合 or 売り場, 所 (sho, also tokoro) as in 住所. Stacking two place-words gives the general word for location. Sound hook: the poet Basho wrote about every place he walked through.
所 — door 戶 (left) + axe 斤 (right)
Originally a sound: an axe (斤) chopping wood near a door (戶), with 戶 also hinting at the pronunciation. Over time it was borrowed to mean 'place' or 'location,' and later became a grammatical particle nominalizing verbs ('that which…'). The concrete 'chopping' sense faded entirely.