Question about kanji 分?


As we know this kanji means "divide / part / minute / understand" and many
other meanings but these are the main meanings .. and I can understand the
first two because they are related to the etymology of the kanji but I can't
understand the meanings "minute" and "understand"...

I read before something like "because it meant part and minute is part of the
hour it also meant minute", but I think this is not a clear explanation,
because for example second is a part of the minute and the hour is a part of
the day so why does this kanji especially mean 'minute'?

And for the last meaning I didn't find any explanation .. how does this kanji
mean "understand"?




In Japanese, "understanding" is actually addressed with the intransitive verb
分かります, which means "it breaks down", i.e. "this breaks down/makes sense (for
me)":

日本語 **が** 分かります。

Note that 日本語 (Japanese) is the subject here (hence が), and it's the thing
doing the breaking down, or in more 'English' terms, being
understandable/comprehensible. The Japanese usage is, of course, a bit more
metaphorical.

As for hours/minutes, this is largely educated conjecture on my part, but it's
pretty reasonable to consider minutes as being merely divisions or parts of an
hour.




In Japanese, "understanding" is actually addressed with the intransitive verb
分かります, which means "it breaks down", i.e. "this breaks down/makes sense (for
me)":

日本語 **が** 分かります。

Note that 日本語 (Japanese) is the subject here (hence が), and it's the thing
doing the breaking down, or in more 'English' terms, being
understandable/comprehensible. The Japanese usage is, of course, a bit more
metaphorical.

As for hours/minutes, this is largely educated conjecture on my part, but it's
pretty reasonable to consider minutes as being merely divisions or parts of an
hour.

