思い付く
おもいつく · omoitsuku · JLPT N3 · verb-godan
to think of
💡 思い付く = thought (思い) + to attach (付く): an idea attaches itself to you
思い (omoi) is the noun form of 思う, to think. 付く (tsuku) means to stick or attach, as in 気が付く, to notice. So an idea that sticks to you is one you hit upon. The sound hook: omoi tsuku, a thought that tsucks on.
付 — person radical 亻 + hand 寸
付 originally pictured a hand (寸) reaching out to hand something to a person (亻), depicting the act of giving or delivering. The core sense 'to hand over, deliver, pay' has remained stable since ancient bronze inscriptions. It also serves as a phonetic component in characters like 附, 符, and 府.