山
やま · yama · JLPT N5 · noun
mountain
⛰️ 山 began as a drawing of three peaks; yama sounds like llama, a mountain animal
The character is a pictograph: three vertical strokes for peaks on a base line, the middle one tallest. For the sound, yama rhymes with llama, an animal that lives high in the mountains. Yama is the native reading, as in Fujiyama.
山 — pictograph of three mountain peaks
山 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally drawn in oracle bone script as three pointed peaks rising from a baseline. The form was simplified over time into the modern three vertical strokes on a base. Its meaning has stayed remarkably stable: 'mountain' or 'hill'.