Several parts combine into one character.

Beautiful pictograph: a hand from above and a hand from below, with a vessel (originally 舟 boat, now stylized) between them — the moment of giving and receiving. The original character meant BOTH "give" and "receive"; over time the meaning narrowed to "receive" alone, while a new character 授 (to give / bestow) was created to take over the giving sense. So 受 and 授 form a deliberate transitive-pair: 授 = give / 受 = receive. Identical across 繁體 / 新字体 / 简体.

Mandarin: shòu, falling 4th tone. 接受 (jiēshòu, to accept), 受到 (shòudào, to receive / suffer), 享受 (xiǎngshòu, to enjoy — also "luxury / comfort"), 感受 (gǎnshòu, to feel / be impressed by), 受不了 (shòubuliǎo, can't stand), 受伤 (shòushāng, to be injured — "suffer-wound"). The 受到 + noun pattern is essential — 受到欢迎 (be welcomed), 受到批评 (be criticized).

Japanese: on-reading ジュ (ju) for compounds — 受験 (juken, taking an exam — central student vocabulary), 受信 (jushin, receiving signal / mail), 受付 (uketsuke, reception — kun + on hybrid). Kun-reading う.ける (u.keru, to receive / take) is among the highest-frequency Japanese verbs. 受ける covers many uses: 試験を受ける (juken o ukeru, "take an exam"), 影響を受ける (eikyō o ukeru, "be influenced"), 質問を受ける (shitsumon o ukeru, "receive a question").

The Japanese verb pair 送る / 受ける (okuru / ukeru, send / receive) is foundational for any communication context — emails, gifts, social interactions all rotate through this pair.

Memory aid: a hand giving from above + hand receiving below — the moment of transfer.