收回
shōuhuí · HSK 4
take back
↩️ 收 = receive/collect + 回 = return; collect-back = take back
收 means to receive or gather in, and 回 means to return or go back. Together, 收回 literally reads as gather-and-return, which maps cleanly to take back, recall, or withdraw something previously given out.
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.
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.