交给
jiāogěi · HSK 2
give to
🤝 交 = hand over + 给 = give; literally hand-over-give = relinquish to someone
交 carries the sense of exchange or handing across, while 给 means to give. Together 交给 marks the act of transferring something into another person's care or control.
交 — top 亠 + 父-like crossed legs
Originally a pictograph of a person standing with legs crossed, showing the idea of crossing or intersecting. From this concrete image, the meaning extended to abstract senses like 'exchange,' 'interact,' and 'hand over.' Modern uses such as 交流 (exchange) and 交通 (traffic) all trace back to this core notion of crossing.
给 — silk radical 纟 + 合 (combine)
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 纟 (silk) hinted at the meaning of joining threads tightly, while 合 ('combine, join') gave the sound. The early sense was 'supply' or 'provide,' which extended naturally to 'give.' In modern Mandarin it splits into gěi ('give') and jǐ ('supply').