登山
とざん · tozan · JLPT N3 · noun
mountain-climbing
⛰️🥾 登山 = climb + mountain: 登 to ascend, 山 mountain
登 (to, climb up) is the same character as in 登る noboru, to climb. 山 is read zan here, the on-reading of yama. Climb + mountain = mountaineering, the same compound as Chinese dēngshān.
登 — 癶 (two feet ascending) + 豆 (ritual vessel)
Originally a pictograph showing two feet (癶) climbing up to present a ritual vessel (豆) on a raised platform. The core meaning was 'to ascend' or 'mount,' as when stepping up to make an offering. From this it broadened to 'rise, climb, record, publish.'
山 — pictograph of three mountain peaks
山 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally drawn in oracle bone script as three pointed peaks rising from a baseline. The form was simplified over time into the modern three vertical strokes on a base. Its meaning has stayed remarkably stable: 'mountain' or 'hill'.