析

Left tree radical — a pictograph of a tree, here in its compressed left-side form. The indexing element. The meaning is original: 析 first depicted a piece of wood being cleft with an axe. From that literal splitting grew the abstract senses 'to divide, analyse, break down into parts.' Same family: 林 (forest), 板 (plank).

Right 斤 — a pictograph of an axe with the head at top and the handle hanging below. Together with the tree on the left, the two pieces form a tight compound ideograph: an axe set against wood, splitting it open. That image is the seed for every later meaning of 析, from chopping firewood to 分析 (analyse) and 剖析 (dissect).