解剖
かいぼう · kaibou · JLPT N1 · noun
autopsy
🔪 解 untie/take apart + 剖 cut open = 解剖 kaibou: taking a body apart by cutting it open
解 means untie or solve, and 剖 means split open. The same 解 appears in 解決 (solve a problem), so 解剖 is taking a body apart by splitting it open, which covers both dissection and autopsy.
解 — horn 角 + knife 刀 + ox 牛
解 is an ideograph showing hands using a knife (刀) to separate the horn (角) from an ox (牛). The original meaning was to butcher or dismember an ox, which broadened to 'untie, separate, loosen,' and then extended figuratively to 'explain' or 'understand'—to take something apart mentally.