数える
かぞえる · kazoeru · JLPT N3 · verb-ichidan
to count
🧮 数 = number + える verb ending; kazoeru sounds like kazoo: count the kazoos
数 is the kanji for number, the same character as Chinese 数 shù. Adding える makes it a verb, so kazoeru means to count. Its noun reading is すう (sū), as in 数学 sūgaku, mathematics.
数 — 婁 (lóu, phonetic) + 攵 (action radical)
数 is a phono-semantic compound. The right side 攵 (a hand holding a stick) suggests an action, originally tallying or counting by striking marks. The left side 婁 supplies the sound. Over time the meaning broadened from 'to count' to 'number' and 'several'.