株
かぶ · kabu · JLPT N3 · noun
stock
🪵📈 株 = 木 tree + 朱 red core: a cut stump, later a share in a business
朱 once meant the red heartwood at a tree's core, so 株 is what stays rooted when the trunk is cut: a stump. In Edo Japan a 株 was a fixed seat in a merchant guild, which led to its meaning as a share of stock.
株 — tree 木 + vermilion 朱 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 木 ('tree') gives the meaning while 朱 supplies the sound 'zhū'. It originally referred to the exposed stump or trunk of a tree at ground level, and from that root sense it came to serve as a measure word for individual plants and, in modern usage, for shares of stock.