革命
かくめい · kakumei · JLPT N1 · noun
revolution
✊🔥 革 = leather, to reform; 命 = life, fate, mandate: a change of fate for the whole country
革 means to change or reform (originally to strip hide from an animal). 命 means destiny or mandate. Together they name a sweeping change of the ruling mandate: a revolution.
命 — 亼 (gather) + 卩 (kneeling person) + 口 (mouth)
Originally depicted a kneeling figure receiving an oral command from above, combining 令 (order) with an added 口 (mouth) for emphasis. The image of authority issuing decrees extended from 'command' to 'mandate' and then 'destiny, life,' as one's fate was seen as decreed by Heaven.