下手
xià shoǔ · HSK 7
to start
🤚 下 = down + 手 = hand: to put one's hand down to a task, to set about it
下 (xià, down/below) + 手 (shǒu, hand). Putting your hand down onto something means starting it. The same down-position sense gives the lesser seat to the host's right.
下 — horizontal line 一 + mark below
下 is an indicative character: a long horizontal line represents a reference level, and a shorter stroke placed beneath it points to the area below. The original meaning 'below, down' comes directly from this spatial diagram, and it later extended to verbs like 'descend' and 'lower'.
手 — pictograph of a hand with five fingers
手 is a pictograph showing an open hand with fingers and a wrist. Early bronze and oracle bone forms clearly depict five splayed fingers, which simplified over time into the modern shape. It keeps its original meaning of 'hand' and also serves as a radical in many characters related to hand actions.