擁

Phono-semantic compound:

扌 (손 수) — semantic component, indicates actions done with the hand

雍 (옹, meaning “harmonious; blocked; gathered”) — phonetic component, gives the sound (옹 / yōng), and also contributes the semantic nuance of crowding / gathering in closeness, which reinforces meanings like “拥挤 (crowded)” and “拥护 (to support).”

擁 and 雍 share semantic fields of “closing in, surrounding, crowding, harmonizing.”

Frequently used in political vocabulary in modern Chinese: 拥护领导 (support the leadership).

擁戴 (to acclaim, to support a leader) is historically significant in East Asian monarchic contexts.

Classical citations:

《後漢書》 (Book of the Later Han Dynasty)

「百姓攢擁，觀者如堵。」

“The common people thronged and crowded together; the spectators were as numerous as a wall.”

攢擁 = to press together; to crowd.

《文選》 (Wen Xuan)

「擁兵而自固。」

“He held (kept) his troops close in order to secure himself.”

擁 = to hold, control, command.

《廣雅》 (Guangya)

「擁，抱也。」

“擁 means ‘to embrace’.”

《史記》 (Records of the Grand Historian)

「大眾擁之以進。」

“The great masses surrounded him and pushed him forward.”