将来
しょうらい · shourai · JLPT N4 · noun
future
将来 = about to (将) + come (来): what is about to come
将 marks something on the verge of happening, 来 means to come. Together: the time about to come, your future and prospects. Compare 未来 (not yet come), which is the more distant, abstract future; 将来 is nearer and personal.
将 — 爿 (bed/plank) + 寸 (hand) + 月 (meat)
Originally depicted a hand (寸) holding meat (月) beside a table or altar (爿), suggesting offering meat at a ceremony — hence a leader or general who presides. The meaning extended to 'commander' and, as a function word, 'about to' or 'will'. The simplified form 将 streamlines 爿 into 丬.
来 — pictograph of a wheat plant with grain heads
来 originally depicted a stalk of wheat with drooping grain heads, and meant 'wheat' in oracle bone script. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the unrelated verb 'to come,' which became its dominant meaning. The original 'wheat' sense was taken over by 麥 (now 麦).