嫌
いや · iya · JLPT N5 · na-adj
unpleasant
🤢 iya sounds like eeyuh — the groan you make at something disagreeable
Say iya aloud: it is close to the English eeyuh or ew-yah sound of disgust. Japanese speakers really do exclaim iya! to mean no way, I hate that. The kanji 嫌 pairs 女 (woman) with 兼 (combine), and is also read kirai, to dislike.
嫌 — woman radical 女 + 兼 (combine, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 女 (woman) suggests the meaning, while 兼 supplies the sound. The original sense related to suspicion or dislike, possibly tied to social judgments. Over time it broadened to mean 'to dislike,' 'to suspect,' or 'to find objectionable.'