人手
rén shoǔ · HSK 7
manpower
🧑✋ 人手 = person (人) + hand (手) = hands available to work, i.e. staff or manpower
Compound of 人 rén person plus 手 shǒu hand. The literal person-hands reads as the workforce on hand: staff, labour, manpower. Same logic as English a firm needing more hands.
人 — pictograph of a standing person
人 is a pictograph showing a person viewed from the side, with two strokes representing the legs and torso of a standing human. In oracle bone script it clearly depicted a figure leaning slightly forward. The meaning has remained 'person' or 'human' throughout its history.
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.