水田
すいでん · suiden · JLPT N1 · noun
paddy
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.
田 — enclosure 囗 + cross 十 (field grid)
田 is a pictograph of a cultivated field divided by raised paths or irrigation ditches into plots, shown as a square with a cross inside. Its original sense was 'farmland,' which it still carries today, and it also serves as a common surname.