靴下
くつした · kutsushita · JLPT N5 · noun
sock
🧦 靴下 = shoe (靴 kutsu) + under (下 shita): what goes under your shoes
靴 (kutsu) means shoe and 下 (shita) means under or below. Socks are literally the shoe-under layer, the thing worn beneath your shoes. Learn kutsu and shita separately and this word comes for free.
下 — horizontal line 一 + mark below
下 is an indicative character: a long horizontal line represents a reference level, and a shorter stroke placed beneath it points to the area below. The original meaning 'below, down' comes directly from this spatial diagram, and it later extended to verbs like 'descend' and 'lower'.