採集
さいしゅう · saishuu · JLPT N3 · noun
collection
🐞🧺 採 pick + 集 gather = pick things and gather them up
採 means to pick or take (as in 採る), and 集 means to gather (as in 集める). You will often see it in 昆虫採集, insect collecting, a classic summer hobby for Japanese kids, and in 採集データ, collected field data.
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.