材料
ざいりょう · zairyou · JLPT N3 · noun
ingredient
🪵🥕 材 timber + 料 measured rice = the raw stuff you build or cook with
材 has 木 (tree) on its left, so it means lumber or raw stock. 料 is 米 (rice) beside 斗 (a measuring scoop), so it means measured ingredients. Together they cover both senses: building material and cooking ingredients.
料 — rice 米 + dipper 斗
料 combines 米 (rice/grain) with 斗 (a measuring dipper), depicting the act of measuring out grain. From this concrete sense it extended to 'to measure, estimate, anticipate' and to 'materials' (things measured out for use), as in 材料 'materials' and 预料 'to anticipate'.