总监
zǒng jiān · HSK 6
director
👔 zǒng (overall) + jiān (supervise) = the one who oversees everything
The 总 means total or overall, and 监 means to monitor or supervise. Together they form the person with total supervision — a director or commissioner who watches over an entire organization.
总 — top 丷 + 口 + 心 (heart radical)
总 is the simplified form of 總. The traditional form combined 糸 (silk threads) with 悤 as phonetic, originally meaning to gather or tie threads together. From 'bundling threads' the meaning extended to 'gather all,' 'general,' 'overall,' and 'always.'