花
はな · hana · JLPT N5 · noun
flower
🌸 hana also means nose: a flower is what you hold up to your hana
花 (hana, flower) and 鼻 (hana, nose) are homophones in Japanese. The kanji itself is 艹 (plant radical) on top of 化 (change): a plant that changes, i.e. one that blooms.
花 — grass radical 艹 + 化 (change/phonetic)
花 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The top 艹 (grass) signals the plant meaning, while 化 ('change, transform') gives the sound and hints at how buds change into blossoms. It originally meant 'flower' or 'blossom' and later extended to 'flowery, patterned, to spend.'