政治
せいじ · seiji · JLPT N4 · noun
politics
🏛️ 政治 = govern (政) + manage/rule (治): governing and ruling = politics
政 (sei) means government, as in 政府 seifu. 治 (ji) means to rule or put in order, as in 治る naoru, to be cured. Sound hook: seiji sounds like say-gee, and politicians say a lot. Do not confuse with 政府, the government itself.
治 — water radical 氵 + 台 (phonetic)
治 originally referred to the name of a river, written with the water radical 氵 for meaning and 台 as the phonetic component. From 'managing rivers' (flood control), the meaning broadened to 'govern, regulate, manage,' and later 'cure, heal' — all senses of bringing something unruly under control.