刷
shuā , shuà · HSK 4
brush
🖌️ 刷 = 尸 (cloth/flap) + 巾 (towel) + 刂 (knife) — scraping motion
The radical 刂 (knife) on the right hints at a sharp scraping action, while 巾 (cloth/towel) on the lower-left ties it to wiping. Together they form 刷, the act of brushing or scraping a surface clean. Sounds like 'shwa' — a quick swipe.
刷 — 刂 knife + 㕞 (brush, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The right side 㕞 originally depicted a brush or scrubber and supplies the sound, while the knife radical 刂 hints at scraping or sweeping action. The character came to mean 'to brush, scrub, or swipe,' later extending to modern senses like swiping a card or binge-watching.