貧困
ひんこん · hinkon · JLPT N1 · noun
poverty
💸 貧 = shell/money split, 困 = trapped in a enclosure: poor means money-trapped. Hin-kon sounds like 'hin-coin': no coins left.
貧 (poor) plus 困 (distressed, trapped) makes a state of being stuck without wealth. Think 'hin' like 'heen' (having nothing) and 'kon' like 'con' (con artist left you broke).
困 — enclosure 囗 + tree 木
困 is an associative compound showing a tree (木) confined within an enclosure (囗), suggesting something hemmed in and unable to grow. From this image of restriction came the meanings 'trapped,' 'distressed,' and by extension 'tired' or 'sleepy,' as if one's energy were boxed in.