裁く
さばく · sabaku · JLPT N3 · verb-godan
to judge
⚖️ 裁 = 衣 clothing + cutting: a judge cuts right from wrong
裁 first meant cutting cloth to size, as in 裁縫 (sewing). Judging is cutting a case apart. Same sound as 捌く, to fillet a fish or sort things out. Don't confuse it with 砂漠 (sabaku), desert.
裁 — 戈 (halberd) + 𢦏 (phonetic, to cut)
裁 originally depicted cutting cloth with a blade, combining 衣 (clothing, embedded in the character) with 𢦏 as the phonetic component suggesting cutting. The core meaning 'to cut cloth' extended to tailoring, then broadly to 'judge, decide, reduce' — as in deciding by cutting away. Modern uses include 裁判 (judge) and 裁缝 (tailor).