親切
しんせつ · shinsetsu · JLPT N4 · na-adj
kindness
🤝 親切 = parent/close (親) + cut/keen (切): keenly close care
親 means parent or intimate, and 切 means to cut but also earnest, as in 大切 (important). Kindness is treating someone with the earnest closeness of family. Sound hook: shin-setsu, a kind person SHINes and SETS you at ease.
切 — 七 (phonetic) + 刀 (knife radical)
切 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 刀 'knife' gives the meaning of cutting, while 七 supplies the sound. The original sense was to slice or cut with a blade. From there it extended figuratively to 'close to' (as in pressed against) and 'urgent/earnest', as in 切实.