看板
かんばん · kanban · JLPT N2 · noun
sign
🪧 看板 = 看 (look at) + 板 (board): a board to look at, i.e. a signboard
看 means to look or see, and 板 means board or plank. Together they name a board meant to be looked at, which is a sign.
看 — hand 手 over eye 目
看 is an associative compound showing a hand (手, simplified to 龹) shading an eye (目), depicting someone shielding their eyes to look into the distance. From this concrete gesture it broadened to mean 'to look,' 'to watch,' and later 'to read' or 'to consider.'
板 — wood radical 木 + 反 (fǎn, phonetic)
板 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 木 'wood' radical signals the meaning — a flat piece of wood, i.e. a board or plank. The right side 反 supplies the sound, historically close to 'bǎn/pàn'. Over time it extended to mean any flat panel, and figuratively 'stiff' or 'inflexible'.