Several parts combine into one character.

A textbook example of phonetic loan (假借, jiǎjiè). Oracle bone 何 originally pictured a person carrying a load on the back — meaning "to bear / shoulder a burden". The character was hijacked phonetically to write the question word "what / how", and the original "carry" meaning was relocated to a new character 荷 (also "hé / ka"; now meaning "luggage / lotus"). So 何 today does not look like its meaning at all — it is a fossilized loan. Identical across 繁體 / 新字体 / 简体.

This kind of phonetic borrowing happened to many CJK characters early in their history, especially question words and abstract grammatical particles. Recognizing these helps explain why so many "abstract" characters seem to depict random objects.

Mandarin: hé, rising 2nd tone. In modern spoken Mandarin, 何 has been largely replaced by 什么 (shénme, "what"), 哪 (nǎ, "which"), and 怎么 (zěnme, "how") — but 何 survives in formal writing, classical idioms, and fixed compounds: 何时 (héshí, when), 何处 (héchù, where), 任何 (rènhé, any), 如何 (rúhé, how — formal), 几何 (jǐhé, geometry — also "how much"), 为何 (wèihé, why — formal).

Japanese: this is where 何 thrives. The character is the foundation of nearly every Japanese question word: — なに (nani, "what"): 何ですか? (Nan desu ka? — note pronunciation shift) — なん (nan, before counters/dental sounds): 何時 (nanji, what time), 何人 (nannin, how many people), 何曜日 (nan-yōbi, what day). — カ (ka, on-reading): 何故 (naze / nan-yue, why — kun + irregular). The rule of thumb: in front of だ・で・と, use なん; before most other sounds, use なに. The split is one of the first hard rules every Japanese learner encounters.

Memory aid: a person carrying a load — and you ask "what is in there?" The original act of carrying became a question.