班

It is an ideogrammatic compound combining two 玉 (jade beads) or 珏 (paired jade) with one 刀 (knife).

The image depicts cutting two strings of jade beads with a knife, which gave the original meaning of “to divide jade” or “to distribute.”

Later, the meaning expanded to “to arrange” or “to lay out in order,” and eventually came to refer to a group divided into regular units — hence the modern sense of ‘class,’ ‘squad,’ or ‘team’ (班).