集中
しゅうちゅう · shuuchuu · JLPT N3 · noun
concentration
🎯 集中 = gather + middle: pull everything to the centre
集 (shuu) means to gather or collect; 中 (chuu) means middle or centre. Concentration is literally gathering your scattered attention into one central point. The rhyme shuu-chuu helps too: two matching sounds, one target.
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.
中 — vertical stroke 丨 through enclosure 口
Pictograph of a banner or pole piercing the center of a target or territory, depicting the idea of 'middle' or 'center'. The horizontal frame represents boundaries, and the vertical line marks the central axis. The meaning extended from spatial center to 'middle, central, China' (中国, the Middle Kingdom).