How is it possible to naively get both "Foreign Carrot Regime" and "Foreigner
Suffrage" from "外国人参政権"?

I'm interested in how the same kanji can be combined in different ways to
create a different meaning.
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2015-08-27T22:27:14.590
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question
kanji
How did we get "Foreign Carrot Regime"?
[外国]{がい・こく} + [人参]{にん・じん} + [政権]{せい・けん} → Foreign + Carrot + Regime

## OR

[外国人]{がい・こく・じん} + [参政権]{さん・せい・けん} → Foreigner + Suffrage
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2015-08-27T22:43:14.297
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answer
[外国人](http://jisho.org/word/%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA) is formed from "外"
(outside), "国" (country), and "人" (person). Outside country person =
foreigner.

[外国](http://jisho.org/word/%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD) is formed from "外" (outside),
"国" (country). Outside country = foreign.

[人参](http://jisho.org/word/%E4%BA%BA%E5%8F%82) can mean either carrot or
ginseng. Wiktionary's entry on
[人参](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BA%BA%E5%8F%82) refers to
[人參](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BA%BA%E5%8F%83) in Chinese, describing
its etymology as a combination of the Chinese characters for person plus that
of a root, because of the forked root of ginseng looking like a human's limbs.

"Suffrage" is [参政権](http://jisho.org/word/%E5%8F%82%E6%94%BF%E6%A8%A9), and
"Regime" is [政権](http://jisho.org/word/%E6%94%BF%E6%A8%A9). The former
contains "参", which jisho.org says can mean participation. Participation +
regime = suffrage.

Foreign suffrage = Outside country person | participation in regime.

Foreign carrot regime = Outside country | person root | regime.

I don't quite understand why "参" has meanings of both root and participation,
but apart from that, it makes sense.
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2015-08-28T13:12:38.920
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