书柜
shū guì · HSK 5
bookcase
📚 书 (book) + 柜 (cabinet) = bookcase
书 means book; 柜 means cabinet or cupboard. Together they name the cabinet that holds books. The 木 radical in 柜 marks it as a wooden piece of furniture.
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'.