聞く
ki-ku
Why 聞く is both 'listen' and 'ask'
The picture An ear opens outward and pulls sound, or an answer, inside you. 聞く opens the ear to pull things in; 言う sends things out of the mouth.
Where the picture shows up in 聞く
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Sound comes into the ear
店でこの曲を聞きました。
mise de kono kyoku o kiki-mashita
I heard this song at the shop.
A tune from the ceiling speaker flows in through the ear.
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Holding the ear wide open
説明をよく聞いてください。
setsumei o yoku kiite kudasai
Please listen to the explanation carefully.
You lean forward and hold your ear wide open toward the speaker's mouth.
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Leaning in to pull an answer
道を聞いてもいいですか。
michi o kiite mo ii desu ka
May I ask you for directions?
You tip your ear toward a passerby and carry back one piece of answer.
Japanese uses 聞く for 'ask' too — no separate verb as in English.
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News passed along to you
明日は休みだと聞きました。
ashita wa yasumi da to kiki-mashita
I heard tomorrow is a day off.
A scrap of news that went through several hands lands finally in your ear.
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The words move your body
医者の言うことを聞いてください。
isha no iu koto o kiite kudasai
Please do as the doctor says.
What came in through the ear runs down to the hands and feet, and the body follows.
All of it in one picture
聞く is one picture: an open ear. Sound flowing past comes in, and you heard it; open the ear wide and you are listening closely; lean the ear toward someone to pull an answer back, and you are asking; news that passed through others lands in your ear, and you heard about it; let the words you took in run down to your hands and feet, and you are doing as told. Asking is just pulling an answer in through the ear, so it takes the same verb.