注重
zhùzhòng · HSK 5
pay attention to
📌 注 = pour/focus + 重 = heavy/weighty — pour weight onto it
注 carries the sense of pouring or focusing attention; 重 means heavy or important. Together: to pour weight onto something = to lay stress on it, treat it as weighty.
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).
重 — person 人 + east 東 (phonetic)
Originally depicted a person carrying a heavy bundle on their back, suggesting weight and burden. The 東-like element served as a phonetic component. Over time the character split into two readings: zhòng meaning 'heavy' and chóng meaning 'repeat/again'.