班
はん · han · JLPT N3 · noun
group
👥 Knife 刂 between two jades 王: split the jade, split people into squads
班 originally meant dividing jade with a knife: 王 + 刂 + 王. From splitting a thing it came to mean splitting people into units, like a class, shift, or squad. For the reading はん, think of a han-dful of people.
班 — two jade 玨 + knife 刂 in the middle
班 originally depicted a knife (刂) dividing a pair of jade pieces (玨), showing the act of splitting jade between people. From this 'dividing' sense it came to mean 'distribute,' then 'a group formed by division,' giving modern meanings like class, team, or shift.