Origin

This character combines a hand radical on the left, which indicates the general category of "manual actions," with the component 及 on the right that serves as a sound hint for pronunciation. The hand radical narrows the meaning to actions you do with your hands, such as handling or manipulating things. Over time, the meanings expanded to include related concepts like entertaining people (handling a guest) or threshing grain (a manual task). The right component doesn't contribute meaning directly—it mainly signals how the character should sound when spoken.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).