要領
ようりょう · youryou · JLPT N2 · noun
effect
🧥 要 essential + 領 collar: the collar holds the whole coat together = the gist
領 originally meant the collar of a garment, the part that gathers and holds the whole piece together. 要領 extends that to the essential points that hold a matter together.
要 — west 覀 (top) + woman 女 (bottom)
Originally a pictograph of a woman with hands on her waist, meaning 'waist' (the original form of 腰). The top 覀 is a stylized depiction of the waist area, not the character for 'west'. Over time it was borrowed for the meaning 'to want, important', so 腰 (with 月 flesh radical) was created for the original 'waist' sense.