Why does 音物【いんもつ】 contain 音? When looking up the definition of (a present or a bribe), I thought it was very odd that it contained the kanji . I can't think of what (sound) could have to do with presents or bribes. Is there some significance that is being lost in translation or am I just overthinking this?

(Aside: I did not know the word .)

One of the meanings of the kanji is “message,” that is, a piece of information sent from one person to another. (as in ) and seem to be the most common examples of with this meaning. The reason (present; often refers to bribe) contains kanji because a present is something which is sent from one person to another.

It is the best to look up a (a dictionary which explains kanji letters in Japanese) for questions like this, but the Daijisen dictionary, which is available online (linked above), contains entries for common kanji letters and comes in handy here.