治る
なおる · naoru · JLPT N4 · verb-godan
to get better
💊 治 = water 氵 + platform 台: taming floods → bringing illness under control
治 first meant managing rivers, then governing, then curing. 治る (naoru) is the intransitive partner of 治す (naosu, to cure): the illness gets better by itself. Sound hook: now-oru, as in right now I am well again.
治 — water radical 氵 + 台 (phonetic)
治 originally referred to the name of a river, written with the water radical 氵 for meaning and 台 as the phonetic component. From 'managing rivers' (flood control), the meaning broadened to 'govern, regulate, manage,' and later 'cure, heal' — all senses of bringing something unruly under control.