根拠

こんきょ · konkyo · JLPT N1 · noun

footing

根 — tree radical 木 + 艮 (phonetic)
根 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 木 ('tree') gives the meaning, since the character originally referred to the roots of a tree. The right side 艮 supplies the sound. From 'tree root' it extended to mean 'root, base, foundation' in general.

More Japanese words · How Japanese works