敏感
びんかん · binkan · JLPT N1 · na-adj
sensitive
Bin-kan sounds like 'bean can': a sensitive person is like a can of beans that gets upset at every bump.
敏 means quick or keen, 感 means feeling, so 敏感 is quick-feeling: easily affected by things. Think of a sensitive stomach or skin reacting to every little thing.
敏 — every 每 + tap/strike 攵
敏 combines 每 (every, originally a woman with hair ornament) with 攵 (a hand holding a stick, indicating action). The original sense suggested quick, diligent action — responding swiftly to every task. It came to mean 'quick, agile, sharp' in both physical and mental senses.
感 — heart 心 + 咸 (xián, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 心 at the bottom carries the meaning of feeling or emotion, while 咸 supplies the sound. Together 感 conveys being moved in the heart, hence 'to feel,' 'sense,' or 'be affected by' something.