支店
してん · shiten · JLPT N3 · noun
shop
🏪 支店 = branch (支) + shop (店): a branch shop
支 (shi) means branch or support, as in 支社 (branch office). 店 (ten) means shop, as in 店員 (shop clerk). Together they name a branch location of a business; the head office counterpart is 本店 (honten), main shop.
支 — hand 又 holding a branch 十
Originally a pictograph showing a hand (又) holding a branch broken from a tree, depicting the act of supporting or propping something up. From this came meanings like 'branch,' 'to support,' and 'to pay out.' It also serves as a phonetic component in characters like 枝 (branch) and 技 (skill).
店 — 广 (shelter radical) + 占 (zhān, phonetic)
店 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The radical 广 depicts a roof or open shelter, suggesting a building, while 占 supplies the sound (zhān → diàn). Originally it referred to a roadside inn or stall set up under a shelter, and over time the meaning narrowed to 'shop' or 'store'.