当て字
あてじ · ateji · JLPT N1 · noun
fictional character
当て (apply) + 字 (character): kanji picked for their sound, not their meaning
Ateji borrow kanji only for pronunciation, so 亜米利加 is read as America and the characters' own meanings are ignored. Often used for foreign loanwords or unusual words.
当 — small ⺌ + crown 冖 + hand 彐 (simplified from 當: 尚 + 田)
Originally written 當, combining 田 'field' with 尚 as a phonetic. The early sense was 'to match' or 'face' a field of equal value, extended to 'correspond to', 'ought to', and 'serve as'. The simplified form 当 streamlines the upper 尚 component.
字 — roof 宀 + child 子
Originally depicted a child 子 under a roof 宀, suggesting birth or rearing a child in the home. The meaning later extended to 'to give birth, nurture' and then to 'written character', since characters were seen as offspring derived from earlier pictographs.