注意
zhùyì · HSK 3
pay attention to
👀 注 (pour/focus) + 意 (intent) = pour your intent onto something
注 means to pour or concentrate (water radical 氵 + 主 master); 意 is intent or thought (音 sound over 心 heart). Together: channel your focused intent — pay attention.
注 — water 氵 + master 主 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 氵 (water) gives the meaning of pouring or flowing, while 主 supplies the sound. The original sense was 'to pour water in,' which extended to 'concentrate, focus' (as in pouring attention) and 'to annotate' (pouring explanation into a text).