吸收
xīshōu · HSK 4
absorb
🧽 吸收 = 吸 (inhale/suck) + 收 (collect/receive)
吸 has 口 (mouth) + 及 (reach), the act of drawing in through the mouth. 收 means to gather or take in. Together they form the verb for soaking up — liquid, knowledge, or new members into a group.
吸 — mouth radical 口 + reach 及 (phonetic)
吸 is a phono-semantic compound. The mouth radical 口 signals the meaning—an action done with the mouth—while 及 (jí) hints at the original sound. It depicts drawing air or liquid in through the mouth, giving the modern senses 'inhale, suck, absorb'.
收 — 丩 (jiū, cord/bind) + 攵 (rap/strike, action)
Originally written 收, this character combines 丩 'twisted cord' as the phonetic with 攵 'a hand holding a stick' as the semantic, depicting the action of binding up captives or gathering things together by force. The core sense 'to gather, collect, harvest' grew naturally from this image of rounding up and tying.