専制
せんせい · sensei · JLPT N2 · noun
absolutism
👑 専制 (sensei) sounds like 'sen-sei': one thousand rule-teachers, a one-man tyranny that never answers to anyone.
専 means exclusive or sole, and 制 means system or control. Together they describe one person holding all control, which is autocracy.
制 — knife 刂 + 未 (tree branches)
Originally depicted a knife 刂 cutting branches from a tree, showing the act of trimming or shaping wood. From this concrete sense of cutting to size came the meanings 'to make,' 'to manufacture,' and by extension 'to control' or 'regulate' — shaping things to a desired form.