Several parts combine into one character.

Compound ideograph: 宀 (roof / house) + 女 (woman) = peace / safety / settled. Oracle bone scribes encoded "stability" through a domestic image — a woman seated under a roof, signaling that the household is in order and trouble has not arrived. The patriarchal slant of the encoding is real (the woman is "settled" rather than "free"), but the broader message — "peace requires home + people" — lands across cultures. Identical across 繁體 / 新字体 / 简体.

Mandarin: ān, level 1st tone. 安全 (ānquán, safety / security), 安静 (ānjìng, quiet / calm), 平安 (píng'ān, peace and safety — a common phrase in farewell wishes), 安心 (ānxīn, peace of mind), 安装 (ānzhuāng, to install — software contexts), 公安 (gōng'ān, public security / police). Also a major historic place name: 西安 (Xī'ān, Xi'an, the western capital — home of the Terracotta Army), 长安 (Cháng'ān, the ancient name of Xi'an, "lasting peace").

Japanese: on-reading アン (an) is dominant — 安全 (anzen, safety), 安心 (anshin, peace of mind), 不安 (fuan, anxiety), 治安 (chian, public order). Kun-reading やす.い (yasu.i) carries a meaning Mandarin and Korean don't share with this character: "cheap / inexpensive". 安い (yasui) means "cheap", 安売り (yasuuri, sale / discount), 格安 (kakuyasu, a great bargain). The leap from "settled / peaceful" to "cheap" is uniquely Japanese — the underlying logic is "easy on the wallet = easy on the mind".

This is one of the most important false-friend traps for English speakers learning across CJK: 安い in Japanese does NOT mean "safe" in everyday usage — it means "cheap". A 安いレストラン (yasui resutoran) is a cheap restaurant, not necessarily a safe one. Korean and Chinese learners of Japanese stumble on this regularly.

Memory aid: a woman under a roof — household at rest. In Japanese, also "easy on the wallet."

In Japan·安い = cheap (in price)

In China·安 = peaceful, safe (no "cheap" meaning)