表紙
ひょうし · hyoushi · JLPT N2 · noun
binding
📕 表 (surface, front) + 紙 (paper) = the paper on the front of a book
Hyou means surface and shi means paper. The same outer sheet also serves as the binding, the wrap that holds the book's pages together.
表 — fur 毛 on top + garment 衣 below
Originally depicted an outer fur garment, with 毛 (fur) above 衣 (clothing), showing the hairy outside of a coat. From 'outer garment' it extended to mean 'outside, surface,' then 'to show, express, display,' and later 'table, chart' as something laid out on the surface.