回来
huí lái
回来 is not coming back. It is being brought back to where it belongs
The picture An arrow that leaves and lands exactly where it started. The origin is also the destination. 回来 comes back to here, where it started; 回去 goes back to there, where it came from — as in 电话打回去.
Where the picture shows up in 回来
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a person back in place
他出差了，下周才回来。
tā chūchāi le, xià zhōu cái huí lái
He's away on business, back next week at the earliest.
The person who wheeled a suitcase out the front door coming back in through that same door days later.
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a thing brought back
你顺路把我的伞拿回来。
nǐ shùnlù bǎ wǒ de sǎn ná huí lái
Grab my umbrella on your way back, would you?
My umbrella, parked in someone else's stand, ending up back in my hand.
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money that won't come back
借出去的钱要不回来了。
jiè chū qù de qián yào bu huí lái le
I'm not getting that loan back.
Money handed over and sitting in the other pocket, the road back to mine cut off.
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recovering what was lost
文件删了还能找回来吗？
wénjiàn shān le hái néng zhǎo huí lái ma
I deleted the file — can it still be recovered?
A file reappearing in the empty slot it was deleted from and settling back into place.
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a life pulled back
病人抢救回来了。
bìngrén qiǎngjiù huí lái le
We managed to bring the patient back.
A flat heart line starting to beat again as the person crosses back into this world.
回来 comes back toward here. Sending something back the other way is 回去, as in 电话打回去.
All of it in one picture
回来 is one arrow that lands where it took off. A person riding it is back home; an umbrella riding it is fetched back. Money that cannot ride it is money you will not see again; a deleted file that rides it is recovered; a stopped breath that rides it is a life brought back. So 回来 never says merely arrived — it says returned to the place it belonged.