独立
どくりつ · dokuritsu · JLPT N3 · noun
gram
🗽 独立 = alone (独) + stand (立): to stand on your own
独 means alone or single, as in 独身 (single, unmarried). 立 means to stand, as in 立つ (tatsu). To stand alone is to be independent. Sound hook: doku-ritsu, a nation that can stand without any doc or crutch.
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.'
立 — person standing on ground (大 over 一)
Pictograph of a person standing with arms outstretched on the ground line below. The original oracle bone form clearly shows a frontal human figure planted on the earth. The core meaning 'to stand' extended to 'establish, set up, erect.'