My point is more related to kanji learners than it is kanji etymology. I understand that some things have etymological meaning, but it's much more useful to me

My point is more related to kanji learners than it is kanji etymology. I understand that some things have etymological meaning, but it's much more useful to me as a learner to just see it as a pictograph. It's pretty common for learners to make a mnemonic out of the kanji and tie it to the kanji's meaning. 木 is a great intro kanji because it simply means "tree" and if you let yourself believe it looks like a tree it's easier to remember. You can start playing with combos like 林 meaning "woods" and 森 meaning "forest". 相 is a combination of 木 and 目, tree and eye. The article pinpoints its meaning as "physiognomy". 相 is an extremely common kanji. My translations may be a little awkward, but these words are more frequent in Japanese than my translations might suggest: 相手 Tree-eye, hand: "the person you're talking to" 相談 Tree-eye, conversation: "consultation, getting advice from someone" 首相 Neck, tree-eye: "Prime Minister" 相撲 Tree-eye, slap: "Sumo wrestling" It's really hard to pin down the meaning of this particular kanji. Eventually I realized I was missing the 森 for the 木. "Physiognomy" is basically meaningless to me as an English speaker/Japanese learner because now I have to work to remember the English meaning as well. I decided to stop thinking of this kanji "physiognomy" and start thinking of it as "tree-eye". Tackling large problems systematically is exciting for me but I have to remind myself "making mnemonics for each kanji" is not the goal, "being able to enjoy myself while immersing in Japanese text" is.