注

• Physical Flow: The act of pouring liquid into a vessel or directing flow into a specific area (e.g., irrigation); the pouring of molten metal into a mold (casting).
• Intellectual/Textual: To annotate or comment upon a text; a commentary, note, or annotation.
• Mental Application: To direct one's gaze or mind toward a single point; to concentrate, focus, or fixate.
• Administrative: The payment of tax, tribute, or currency into a treasury.

• Used as both a verb (to annotate/pour) and a noun (a commentary/note).

// Contrast with 流 (//liú//, to flow): While //liú* refers to the general act of flowing, 注 implies intentionality, direction, or a specific destination.

• Readings: The standard reading is //zhù//. A Tang-period reading //jiào// (Fanqie: 之戍) exists and may appear in older texts regarding hydraulics or irrigation.
• Variants: Frequently interchangeable with 註 (which adds the speech radical).

• In many manuscripts, 注 serves both physical and scholarly senses; context determines whether the "pouring" is literal (liquid) or literary (meaning).