代用
だいよう · daiyou · JLPT N1 · noun
substitution
🔄 代 = substitute + 用 = use: you use one thing in place of another
代 means to replace or stand in for, and 用 means use. Put together, 代用 is using something as a stand-in, like using a spoon as a screwdriver.
代 — person radical 亻 + 弋 (stake/dart, phonetic)
代 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning and 弋 supplies the sound. The original sense was one person taking the place of another, which broadened to 'substitute,' 'replace,' and then 'generation' or 'era' — successive groups of people replacing the previous.
用 — pictograph of a bucket or wooden pail
用 originally depicted a bucket or container, possibly a sacrificial vessel made of wood. Over time it was borrowed to mean 'to use' or 'employ,' losing its concrete object sense. The modern meaning 'use' has been standard since early classical Chinese.