日付
ひづけ · hiduke · JLPT N3 · noun
date
📅 日付 = day + attach: the day you attach to a letter, form or receipt
日 means day and 付 (from つける, to attach) means attach. A 日付 is the day stamped onto something, such as the date line of a document. The づ in hidzuke is just つ softened after ひ.
日 — pictograph of the sun
日 is a pictograph of the sun, originally drawn as a circle with a dot or stroke inside representing the sun's substance. Over time the round shape was squared off into the modern rectangular form. It means 'sun' and by extension 'day'.
付 — person radical 亻 + hand 寸
付 originally pictured a hand (寸) reaching out to hand something to a person (亻), depicting the act of giving or delivering. The core sense 'to hand over, deliver, pay' has remained stable since ancient bronze inscriptions. It also serves as a phonetic component in characters like 附, 符, and 府.