感想
かんそう · kansou · JLPT N3 · noun
impression
📝 感想 = feel + think: what something made you feel and think
感 (kan) means to feel, as in 感謝 kansha, gratitude. 想 (sou) means to think, as in 思想 shisou, thought or ideology. Put together, they mean your reaction to something, which is why people ask 感想は？ after a film, a book or a meal.
感 — heart 心 + 咸 (xián, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 心 at the bottom carries the meaning of feeling or emotion, while 咸 supplies the sound. Together 感 conveys being moved in the heart, hence 'to feel,' 'sense,' or 'be affected by' something.
想 — heart 心 + 相 (xiāng, phonetic)
想 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 心 at the bottom carries the meaning, since classical Chinese located thought and feeling in the heart. The top component 相 (xiāng) supplies the sound, and over time the character settled into the senses 'to think,' 'to want,' and 'to miss.'