连接
liánjiē · HSK 5
join
🔗 连 (link) + 接 (connect) = connect/join together
连 means to link in succession; 接 means to receive or join. Together they reinforce the idea of joining two things into one connected whole — used for connecting wires, ideas, or people.
连 — 辶 (walk) + 车 (cart/vehicle)
Originally a compound of the 'walk/movement' radical 辶 and 车 (cart), depicting carts moving in succession along a road. From this came the core sense of things linked or following one after another, extending to modern meanings like 'connect,' 'join,' and 'continuous.'
接 — hand 扌 + concubine 妾 (phonetic)
接 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 carries the meaning of receiving or joining with the hand, while 妾 supplies the sound. From 'taking with the hand' it broadened to 'receive, meet, connect, join together'.