気に入る
きにいる · kiniiru · JLPT N3 · expression
to like
❤️ 気 (mood, feelings) + に入る (to go into): it gets into your feelings
Literally, something enters your 気, your mood or spirit. Use it with が for the thing you like: これが気に入った means this one won me over. It usually shows up in the past tense, 気に入った, for something you have come to like.
入 — single pictograph, two slanting strokes
入 is a pictograph showing an arrowhead or pointed entrance, with two strokes converging downward to suggest something going inward. The original sense was 'to enter,' and it still carries that meaning today. It contrasts visually with 人 (person), where the strokes cross differently at the top.