灰皿
はいざら · haizara · JLPT N5 · noun
ashtray
🚬 灰皿 = ash (灰 hai) + plate (皿 sara → zara)
A literal ash-plate. 灰 (hai) means ash and 皿 (sara) means plate or dish; when joined, sara softens to zara through rendaku voicing. Same 皿 as in 小皿 (kozara, small plate).
灰 — hand 又 (ナ) + fire 火
灰 originally depicted a hand (ナ, simplified from 又) holding or reaching into fire 火, representing the cooled ashes one can safely pick up after a flame dies. From this concrete sense of 'ashes,' the meaning extended to the color gray and figuratively to discouragement, as in 灰心.