聚集
jùjí · HSK 7
gather
🐦🌳 聚 gather + 集 collect; 集 = bird 隹 over tree 木 = birds flocking onto one branch
Both characters mean to bring together, so the compound doubles down on the idea. The 集 half is a tidy etymology hook: a bird 隹 sitting on a tree 木, the old sign for fowl roosting in one spot — a flock collecting in one place.
聚 — 取 (qǔ) phonetic + 乑 (yín, crowd of people)
聚 originally depicted a gathering of people, with 乑 showing three figures standing together to suggest a crowd. The component 取 (to take) provides the phonetic clue for the reading jù. Over time the meaning broadened from 'assembling people' to any kind of gathering, collecting, or amassing.
集 — bird 隹 on top of tree 木
集 is an ideograph showing a bird (隹) perched on a tree (木). The original form depicted three birds gathering on a tree, later simplified to one. From 'birds flocking together' it extended to mean 'gather, collect, assemble,' and by extension 'collection' or 'volume' of writings.