Origin

This character combines a hand radical on the left, which signals that the action involves physical doing or manipulation, with a sound component on the right that indicates the pronunciation. The hand element makes sense for the meaning "search" or "look for," since searching is something you do with your hands and body. The right component provides a sound hint rather than contributing to the meaning, helping speakers of Chinese and Japanese know how to pronounce the word. Together, hand plus sound guide gives you a character that means to actively search or locate something.