Several parts combine into one character.

Compound ideograph: 八 (split / eight, the original "dividing" character from earlier) + 刀 (knife) = to divide. The picture is direct: a knife cleaving something in two. The minute of time (1 minute = one 60th of an hour) gets its name from the same character because a minute is "a divided portion" of an hour. Identical across 繁體 / 新字体 / 简体.

Mandarin has TWO tones for 分 — another 破音字: — fēn (level 1st tone): verb "to divide" + the noun "minute / part / penny". 分 (divide), 分钟 (fēnzhōng, minute), 分手 (fēnshǒu, to break up — "divide hands"), 分类 (fēnlèi, classify), 三分 (sān fēn, three minutes / three points / three cents). — fèn (falling 4th tone): noun "share / portion / quality". 身份 (shēnfèn, identity / status), 部分 (bùfèn, part), 充分 (chōngfèn, sufficient).

Japanese has THREE on-readings — possibly the messiest pronunciation table in the entire script: — ブン (bun): 分析 (bunseki, analysis), 部分 (bubun, part), 自分 (jibun, oneself). — フン (fun) / プン (pun): time-counting suffix. 三分 (sanpun — note the rendaku), 五分 (gofun, five minutes), 何分 (nanpun, how many minutes). The voicing/devoicing depends on the preceding number — pure memorization. — ブ (bu): fractions and percentages. 三分の一 (sanbun no ichi, one-third). Kun-reading わ.ける (wa.keru, to divide) and わ.かる (wa.karu, to understand) come from the same root — "what is divided becomes clear".

何分 (nanpun) — "how many minutes?" — is one of the first questions a Japanese learner masters at the train station.

Memory aid: knife splitting a thing in eight — the original picture of "divide".