水滴
すいてき · suiteki · JLPT N2 · noun
water
💧 水 (sui) = water + 滴 (teki) = drop, so 水滴 suiteki is a drop of water
滴 (teki) on its own means a drip or a single drop. Pairing it with 水 (water) gives the exact meaning: one drop of water.
水 — pictograph of flowing water
水 is a pictograph depicting a stream of flowing water, with the central line representing the main current and the side strokes showing splashing droplets or ripples. In oracle bone script it was drawn even more clearly as a wavy vertical line with branches. It retains its original meaning of 'water' and also serves as a radical, often appearing in the compressed form 氵.
滴 — water radical 氵 + 啇 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The water radical 氵 gives the meaning 'liquid,' while 啇 (dī/dí) supplies the sound. Originally referred to water falling drop by drop, and by extension came to mean 'a drop' as both verb and measure word.