没收
mò shoū · HSK 6
to confiscate
🚫💰 没 (not/none) + 收 (collect) = no collecting allowed — confiscate!
When authorities 没收 something, they ensure you have 没 (none, nothing) left to 收 (collect or receive). The mot-show sound echoes a stern motto: show me what you have, its mine now.
没 — water 氵 + 殳 (hand with weapon)
Originally depicted something sinking or being submerged in water, combining the water radical 氵 with 殳, suggesting a hand reaching into a whirlpool. The core sense was 'to sink, drown, disappear under water.' From there it extended to 'to vanish, not have,' giving the modern negative meaning 'not, have not.'
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.