[Elements vary by font] right element of「merged side by side, downward thrusting」with「eat, food」represents sticky rice pounded and merged into a homogeneous mass, so that no individual rice grains remain distinguishable. There is no equivalent translation in the English language for this item, so the Japanese word MOCHI is (or, perhaps should be) also used in English—the misnomer「rice cake」is somewhat misleading at best, since most folks conceive of 'cake' as something light and fluffy rather than oilcake, the actual reference in this case. Note that「cake」fundamentally does not refer to the end product of a sugary baked confection, but actually refers to the raw material of thick batter before baking. 'cake, caked' means to cover or fill with a thick sticky layer of some material as compacted sediment, or later when dried as a crusty mass, for example: a coal miner whose face was caked with soot, or the oilcake formed after pressing oil from seeds, or that coats the oil catch pan of machining lathes. Another characteristic of sticky mochi is that it often becomes「merged side by side」with surrounding pieces (right element of「united, joined」). MOCHI swells considerably with large bubbles that「emit」bursts and gushes (of steam) as it is broiled. When cooked, MOCHI may easily be pulled into very long, sticky, white threads. Right element source is「two swelling and exploding downward thrusting erections side by side」that can be likened to discharges of freshly ejaculated long strings of semen.
　mochi is made by downward thrusting a large mallet repeatedly into an urn filled with cooked sticky rice. People choke to death every year in Japan eating this stuff, particularly old folks during the new year holidays: best to eat it while with someone else so that emergency medical procedures can be immediately administered, or at least someone remains lucid enough to dial for an ambulance after gramps passes out blue in the face from lack of oxygen: remember to extract the blob from deep within his throat first, though.

Modern definitions (that generally disregard history) …excluding politically incorrect concepts and other meanings deemed offensive today; may list only pigeonholed definitions, euphemisms, or meaningless mnemonics)
Chinese: round flat cake; cookie; cake; pastry
Japanese: sticky rice cake, mochi rice cake, pounding mochi, sticky rice wrapped in deep-fried tōfu
Unihan extended: rice-cakes, biscuits
EDRDG: mochi rice cake