片 means “one side, piece”

かた · kata

Also: one-sided, leaf, sheet, right-side kata radical (no. 91)

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)
かた-
On'yomi (Chinese reading)
ヘン

JLPT N2 · Taught in grade 6 · 4 strokes

The story

Split a tree (木) down the middle and keep the right-hand half: 片 is one side, one fragment. 片道 is a one-way trip, 片付ける is tidying up, and 片仮名, katakana, are kana built from pieces of kanji.

Used in 片道 (katamichi, one way), 片付ける (katazukeru, to tidy up), and 破片 (hahen, fragment/shard)

More from Counts & Comparisons

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.