书写
shūxiě · HSK 7
write
✍️ 书 (book) + 写 (write) = writing; both share the act of putting words down
书 means book or document, 写 means to write. Together 书写 is the formal act of writing or handwriting. Think of it as the doubled-up write+book pairing for putting characters on a page.
书 — hand 又 holding brush over 曰 (say/speak)
Originally a pictograph of a hand gripping a writing brush above a mouth or vessel, depicting the act of writing speech down. The traditional form 書 shows 聿 (brush) over 曰 (to say). Simplified 书 preserves the brush-in-hand shape, and the meaning extended from 'to write' to 'writing' and then 'book'.
写 — 宀 roof + 与 (phonetic, simplified from 寫)
Originally 寫 depicted placing something under a roof (宀), extended to mean 'to set down' and then 'to write/copy'. The simplified form 写 keeps the roof but replaces the complex inner element with 与, which also hints at the sound. Today it broadly means 'to write' or 'to depict'.