月
つき · tsuki · JLPT N4 · noun
moon
🌙 tsuki sounds like 'ts-key': the moon is the key that unlocks the night
The kanji 月 began as a drawing of a crescent moon, and the same character also means month, since one moon cycle is one month. Read つき (tsuki) on its own; in month names it is read がつ or げつ.
月 — pictograph of crescent moon
月 is a pictograph of a crescent moon, chosen over a full circle to distinguish it from 日 (sun). The inner strokes originally depicted the moon's shadow or markings. As a radical it often relates to the moon, time, or (via a lookalike form of 肉 'flesh') body parts.