汚い
きたない · kitanai · JLPT N5 · i-adj
dirty
🗑️ Sounds like kit-an-eye: a kit in the eye is dirty
汚 has the water radical 氵 on the left: stagnant, muddy water gives the sense of filth. The ending ない sounds like the negative, so read it as ki-ta-NAI = not clean. Same kanji appears in 汚れる (to get dirty) and 汚染 (pollution).