书籍
shūjí · HSK 7
book
📚 书籍 = 书 (book) + 籍 (records/register) → books collectively
书 means book or writing; 籍 means register, records, or registry. Together they form the formal word for books as a body of written works, not a single copy. The 竹 (bamboo) top of 籍 recalls the bamboo strips ancient texts were written on.
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'.