引っ越す
ひっこす · hikkosu · JLPT N4 · verb-godan
to move to a new place of residence
📦🏠 引っ越す = pull (引く) + cross over (越す): pull your stuff across to a new home
Compound of 引く (to pull) and 越す (to cross over, go beyond). Moving house is literally pulling your belongings across to the other side. The small っ is just 引き contracted, giving the clipped hik-kosu sound.
引 — bow 弓 + vertical stroke 丨
A compound ideograph showing a bow 弓 with a vertical line 丨 representing the drawn bowstring. The original meaning was 'to draw a bow,' which extended to 'pull,' 'lead,' 'guide,' and 'cite.' The vertical stroke depicts the action of pulling the string back.
越 — 走 (run) + 戉 (axe, phonetic)
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 走 ('to run, go') gives the meaning of crossing or passing over, while 戉 (an ancient axe) supplies the sound. From 'to stride across' it extended to 'exceed, surpass,' and was later borrowed as the name of the ancient Yue state and people in southern China.