要請
ようせい · yousei · JLPT N1 · noun
request
📜 要 = need/essential + 請 = request/ask: a formal request you need to make
Compound of 要 (want, need, essential) and 請 (please, request, invite). Used for formal claims, demands and applications: what you need, formally asked for.
要 — west 覀 (top) + woman 女 (bottom)
Originally a pictograph of a woman with hands on her waist, meaning 'waist' (the original form of 腰). The top 覀 is a stylized depiction of the waist area, not the character for 'west'. Over time it was borrowed for the meaning 'to want, important', so 腰 (with 月 flesh radical) was created for the original 'waist' sense.