Origin

This character combines grass (the left side, showing the plant radical) with a component that sounds like "sen" — the sound hint for how the character is pronounced. The connection to meaning likely comes from traditional woven grass mats in Japan, which were (and are) made from plant materials and offered as gifts or used in formal settings. Over time, the character extended from the concrete meaning of offering a mat to the more general sense of recommending or encouraging someone to accept something, similar to formally presenting or offering something valuable.