手套
shoǔ tào · HSK 4
glove
🧤 手 (hand) + 套 (cover/sheath) = hand-cover
手 means hand and 套 means a cover, case, or sheath that wraps around something. Together they form the literal compound hand-cover, i.e. glove. The same 套 appears in 外套 (outer-cover = coat).
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.
套 — big 大 + long 镸 (long hair)
套 combines 大 (big) over 镸 (long), suggesting something large and elongated that wraps or covers. The original sense was a covering or sheath that fits over something else, later extending to 'set,' 'cover,' or 'to slip over.' Modern uses like 一套 (a set) and 手套 (gloves) preserve this idea of an enclosing wrapper.