生け花
いけばな · ikebana · JLPT N2 · noun
flower arrangement
💐🌸 生け (ike, keep alive) + 花 (hana, flower) = living flowers
生ける (ikeru) means to keep alive, and also to arrange cut flowers in water. 花 is hana, flower; it turns into bana when it comes second in a compound. So ikebana is the art of keeping cut flowers alive.
生 — sprout 屮 above earth 土
Originally a pictograph showing a young plant sprouting from the ground, with 屮 (a sprout) above 土 (earth). The core meaning is 'to be born, to grow, to live,' which extends to 'raw, unripe, unfamiliar.' The modern form has simplified the sprout shape but preserves the image of new growth emerging from soil.
花 — grass radical 艹 + 化 (change/phonetic)
花 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The top 艹 (grass) signals the plant meaning, while 化 ('change, transform') gives the sound and hints at how buds change into blossoms. It originally meant 'flower' or 'blossom' and later extended to 'flowery, patterned, to spend.'