投票
とうひょう · touhyou · JLPT N3 · noun
vote
🗳️ 投票 = throw + ballot: you toss your slip into the box
投 (tou) means throw, as in 投げる (nageru, to throw). 票 (hyou) is a ballot or paper slip, also seen in 伝票 (denpyou, a sales slip). So voting is literally throwing your ballot in.
投 — hand radical 扌 + weapon 殳
Originally a pictograph of a hand (扌) throwing or hurling a weapon or staff (殳). The core meaning 'to throw, cast, hurl' extended over time to figurative senses like 'to invest,' 'to deliver,' or 'to throw oneself into' something.
票 — fire 火 (bottom) + 覀 (cover/west)
Originally written with 火 (fire) below 覀, depicting sparks or embers rising from a fire. The early meaning was 'flying sparks' or 'light, floating thing.' Over time it shifted to mean a slip of paper, ticket, or note — something light and easily passed around.