写す
うつす · utsusu · JLPT N4 · verb-godan
to copy
📷📝 utsusu = shift it across: 移す (move) and 写す (copy) are the same verb at root
写す shares its origin with 移す (to move) and 映す (to project). Copying is moving words from one page to another; photographing is moving a scene onto film. One sound, utsusu, one core idea: transfer.
写 — 宀 roof + 与 (phonetic, simplified from 寫)
Originally 寫 depicted placing something under a roof (宀), extended to mean 'to set down' and then 'to write/copy'. The simplified form 写 keeps the roof but replaces the complex inner element with 与, which also hints at the sound. Today it broadly means 'to write' or 'to depict'.