山林
さんりん · sanrin · JLPT N2 · noun
forest
🌲⛰️ 山 mountain + 林 forest (two 木 trees side by side) = 山林, mountain forest
Both characters use their Sino-Japanese on-reading in this compound: 山 becomes san and 林 becomes rin, giving sanrin. Compare 森 (mori), which has three 木 trees and means a denser forest.
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'.