回收
huíshōu · HSK 5
recycle
♻️ 回 = return + 收 = collect; return-and-collect = recycle
回 means return or go back, 收 means to collect or receive. Together they mean to collect things back — recycle. Same 收 appears in 收到 (receive) and 收音机 (radio, sound-collector).
回 — enclosure 囗 + smaller 囗 inside
回 is a pictograph of a swirling whirlpool or coiled spiral, shown as nested squares in modern form. The original meaning was 'to revolve' or 'turn around,' which extended to 'return' and 'a time/occurrence.' It also appears as a phonetic in characters like 茴 and 廻.
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.