鼠
ねずみ · nezumi · JLPT N3 · noun
mouse
🐭 ne-zumi: ne is the zodiac Rat (子), and its nose zooms after cheese
In the Japanese zodiac the Rat year is 子 (ne), which gives you the first syllable. One folk etymology reads nezumi as 根住み, a root-dweller living under the house. The kanji 鼠 is a pictograph: teeth on top, then body, legs and tail.
鼠 — pictograph of a rat with whiskers, teeth, claws, and tail
鼠 is a pictograph showing a rat or mouse: the top depicts the head and gnawing teeth, while the lower strokes show the belly, claws, and curled tail. It serves as the radical for many rodent-related characters and still means 'rat/mouse' today, including the zodiac Rat.