翻訳
ほんやく · honyaku · JLPT N4 · noun
translation
📖 翻訳 = flip over (翻) + translate (訳): flipping words into another language
翻 means to turn over or flip, as in turning a page; 訳 means translation or reason. Together: turning a text over into another language. Sound hook: honyaku is hon (本, book) plus yaku (訳, translate), so book-translate, though the kanji used is 翻.
翻 — 番 (turn/sequence) + 羽 (feathers)
A semantic-phonetic compound. 羽 (feathers) gives the meaning, evoking a bird flipping or fluttering its wings, while 番 supplies the sound. From this 'flip over' sense it extended to 'turn over,' 'overturn,' and later 'translate' — that is, turning words from one language into another.