集める
あつめる · atsumeru · JLPT N4 · verb-ichidan
to gather
🧲 At-SUE-meru: AT SUE's house we gather; 集 = birds 隹 gathering on a tree 木
集 is built from 隹 (bird) over 木 (tree): birds flocking onto one tree, the original sense of gathering. 集める is the transitive form, you collect things; 集まる is the intransitive, things gather by themselves.
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.