水着
みずぎ · mizugi · JLPT N2 · noun
swimsuit
👙 水 = water + 着 = wear: water + wear, the thing you put on to swim in
Rendaku (sound change) voices the 'ki' of 着 (ki) to 'gi' in compounds, so mizu + ki becomes mizugi. 着 also appears in 着物 (kimono), 'something worn'.
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.
着 — sheep 羊 (top) + eye 目 (bottom)
着 originated as a variant of 著, which depicted plants emerging visibly above ground (grass radical 艹 over 者). Over time 着 split off to carry meanings like 'attach,' 'wear,' or a verb suffix marking ongoing action (zhe), while 著 kept senses like 'manifest' or 'author.'