人質
ひとじち · hitojichi · JLPT N1 · noun
hostage
🔗 人 (person) + 質 (pledge, collateral) = a person held as a pledge
質 means pledge or collateral: the thing handed over to guarantee a debt or promise. Put a person in that role and you get 人質, a hostage. The word is literally person-as-collateral.
人 — pictograph of a standing person
人 is a pictograph showing a person viewed from the side, with two strokes representing the legs and torso of a standing human. In oracle bone script it clearly depicted a figure leaning slightly forward. The meaning has remained 'person' or 'human' throughout its history.