踏切
ふみきり · fumikiri · JLPT N2 · noun
crossing
🚆 踏 (fumi, step on) + 切 (kiri, cut): the road is cut by the tracks, so you step across
Fumi means step on and kiri means cut. The same word covers a race's starting line, which you step over to begin, and a scratch, which is a cut on the skin.
踏 — foot radical 足 + 沓 (phonetic)
踏 combines the foot radical 足, which signals meaning related to feet or walking, with 沓 as the phonetic component hinting at the sound. The character originally meant to step on or tread, and this core sense of placing the foot down has remained stable through history.
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.