調味料
ちょうみりょう · choumiryou · JLPT N2 · noun
condiment
🧂 調 adjust + 味 taste + 料 ingredient = an ingredient that adjusts the taste
調 (chō) means adjust or tune, 味 (mi) means taste, and 料 (ryō) means material or ingredient. Together they name anything added to food to tune its flavor.
料 — rice 米 + dipper 斗
料 combines 米 (rice/grain) with 斗 (a measuring dipper), depicting the act of measuring out grain. From this concrete sense it extended to 'to measure, estimate, anticipate' and to 'materials' (things measured out for use), as in 材料 'materials' and 预料 'to anticipate'.