帮
bāng · HSK 1
help
🤝 帮 = 邦 (nation, phonetic bāng) + 巾 (cloth) — a cloth that binds people, i.e. help
The right side 邦 gives the bāng sound; the bottom 巾 means cloth or band. Originally a side-piece of cloth on a shoe, it generalised to 'group/help'. Modern sense: lend a hand, support a 帮 (gang or band).
帮 — 巾 (cloth) + 邦 (country, phonetic)
帮 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 巾 component means 'cloth' and originally referred to the side strip of a shoe or a cloth border. 邦 (bāng, 'state') supplies the sound. The meaning later extended from 'side/edge' to 'group, gang' and then to the modern verb sense 'to help'.