大使
たいし · taishi · JLPT N3 · noun
ambassador
🏛️🤝 大使 = big + envoy: the biggest messenger a country sends
大 (tai) means big or great, and 使 (shi) means envoy or messenger, the same 使 as in 使う, to use or send. A great envoy is an ambassador. Taishi is the top-ranked messenger one nation sends to another.
大 — pictograph of a person with arms outstretched
大 is a pictograph showing a person standing with arms and legs spread wide. The outstretched arms suggest 'big' or 'great', extending from the literal image of a large stance to abstract meanings like important or grand. It is one of the oldest characters, found on oracle bones.
使 — person radical 亻 + official 吏
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning and 吏 (official, also a phonetic clue) suggests the sound. The early sense was 'to send a person on a mission,' from which came 'envoy/messenger' and the broader meanings 'to use' and 'to cause/make.'