大使館
たいしかん · taishikan · JLPT N5 · noun
embassy
🏛️ 大使館 = big + envoy + hall: the hall of the great envoy
大使 (taishi) means ambassador, literally big envoy, and 館 (kan) is a large public building, as in 図書館 library and 旅館 inn. So an embassy is simply the ambassador's hall. Note 大 is read tai here, not dai.
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.'