属

The zhǔ reading is purely literary today and almost never spoken. Two compounds carry it: 属意 (to have one's heart set on a chosen person) and 属望 (to pin hopes on someone). Both show up in news editorials, biographies, and classical translations — never in casual chat. The underlying classical sense is "to attach one's mind to," which is why these compounds always describe directed attention rather than mere belonging.

Classical Chinese used 属 for "to join, link, connect" — a stretch of events or people meeting end-to-end (前后相属). From there it specialised into the mental sense of "to attach one's attention," giving us the modern 属意 / 属望 pair. The everyday shǔ sense "to belong to a category" came later by way of "connected to a class."