独占
どくせん · dokusen · JLPT N1 · noun
monopoly
📖 独 (alone) + 占 (occupy) = occupy alone, so monopoly
独 means alone or solo, and 占 means to occupy or seize. Together they describe one party holding something exclusively, which is exactly what a monopoly is.
独 — dog radical 犭 + 蜀 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 犭 (dog) gives the meaning, since dogs were thought to fight when kept together and so were often kept singly, while 蜀 supplies the sound. The original sense was 'solitary dog,' which broadened to 'alone, single, only.'
占 — divination 卜 + mouth 口
Originally a pictograph showing a divination crack 卜 above a mouth 口, depicting someone speaking the result of an oracle reading. From this 'declare by divination' sense it broadened to 'occupy, take possession of' (now read zhàn) and 'divine, foretell' (read zhān).