端

はし · hashi · JLPT N3 · noun

gram

🥢 Hashi sounds like chopsticks (箸), and you hold chopsticks by one end

Etymology: 立 (stand) + 耑, an old drawing of a sprout with roots below and a shoot above, so its two tips. 端 keeps that sense of an extremity: the end of a street, the edge of a table, the margin of a page. Pitch accent differs from 箸 and 橋 (bridge).

端 — 立 stand + 耑 (phonetic, sprout)
端 combines 立 'to stand' with phonetic 耑, which originally depicted a plant sprouting with roots and shoots — its tips at both ends. The semantic 立 reinforces 'upright,' giving 端 meanings like 'end, tip, extremity' and by extension 'upright, proper.'

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