收购
shōugòu · HSK 5
to purchase or acquire in bulk or at an official level (esp. by a state or organization); to acquire or take over (a company or equity); acquisition; takeover
💰 收购 = 收 (receive/collect) + 购 (purchase) — collect by buying
收 means to receive or collect; 购 means to purchase. Together 收购 is acquisition — buying something up, often a company or goods in bulk. Think of a corporate takeover: collecting ownership through purchase.
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.
购 — 贝 (shell/money) + 勾 (gōu, phonetic)
购 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 贝 component (cowrie shell, ancient currency) signals meaning related to money or trade, while 勾 (gōu) supplies the sound. Originally meaning to offer a reward or buy, it now simply means 'to purchase'.