砂糖
さとう · satou · JLPT N5 · noun
sugar
🍬 砂糖 = sand + sugar: sugar is the sweet that pours like sand
砂 (sa) means sand and 糖 (tou) means sugar, so the word literally says sand-sugar, i.e. granulated sugar. Sound hook: satou sounds like sat-oh, as in I sat, oh, on the sugar bag.
糖 — rice radical 米 + 唐 táng (phonetic)
糖 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 米 (rice/grain) signals the meaning, since sugar was historically produced from grains and cane. The right side 唐 supplies the sound 'táng'. Originally referring to malt sugar made from grains, the word later broadened to mean sugar and sweets in general.