市場
いちば · ichiba · JLPT N3 · noun
market
🏪🥬 市場 = market (市) + place (場): the place where the market is held
市 read いち is the old native word for a market or fair, and 場 (ば) means place, as in 広場 (hiroba, plaza). Read しじょう, the same kanji mean an economic market, such as the stock market.
市 — top 亠 + cloth 巾
Originally a pictograph of a marketplace banner or sign post above a stall, indicating a place of trade. The character came to mean 'market', and by extension 'city' or 'town', since markets were the centers of urban life. The modern form combines a top stroke with 巾 (cloth/banner).
しじょう · shijou · JLPT N1 · noun
market
市 — top 亠 + cloth 巾
Originally a pictograph of a marketplace banner or sign post above a stall, indicating a place of trade. The character came to mean 'market', and by extension 'city' or 'town', since markets were the centers of urban life. The modern form combines a top stroke with 巾 (cloth/banner).