気兼ね
きがね · kigane · JLPT N1 · noun
hesitance
気 (feeling, mind) + 兼ね (reluctance, from 兼ねる) = a mind that holds back
気 means feeling or spirit, and 兼ね comes from 兼ねる, meaning to be reluctant to do something. Together they describe holding back out of consideration for others.
兼 — hand 又 holding two grain stalks 秝
兼 is an ideograph showing a hand (又) grasping two stalks of grain (秝) at once. The original meaning was 'to hold two things together,' which extended to 'combine,' 'simultaneously,' and 'both.' This sense of doubling up survives in modern compounds like 兼职 (hold a concurrent job).