收入
shōurù · HSK 2
to take in; income
💰📥 收 = receive/collect + 入 = enter; what enters your pocket
收 means to receive or collect; 入 means to enter or go in. Together: what comes in — your income. The 入 component literally looks like a wedge entering, reinforcing the inbound direction.
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.
入 — single pictograph, two slanting strokes
入 is a pictograph showing an arrowhead or pointed entrance, with two strokes converging downward to suggest something going inward. The original sense was 'to enter,' and it still carries that meaning today. It contrasts visually with 人 (person), where the strokes cross differently at the top.