引用
いんよう · inyou · JLPT N3 · noun
citation
📜 引用 = pull + use: you pull someone's words out and use them
引 means to pull or draw out, as in 引く (hiku, to pull). 用 means to use, as in 利用 (riyou). When you quote or cite, you pull words from another text and use them in your own.
引 — bow 弓 + vertical stroke 丨
A compound ideograph showing a bow 弓 with a vertical line 丨 representing the drawn bowstring. The original meaning was 'to draw a bow,' which extended to 'pull,' 'lead,' 'guide,' and 'cite.' The vertical stroke depicts the action of pulling the string back.
用 — pictograph of a bucket or wooden pail
用 originally depicted a bucket or container, possibly a sacrificial vessel made of wood. Over time it was borrowed to mean 'to use' or 'employ,' losing its concrete object sense. The modern meaning 'use' has been standard since early classical Chinese.