手续
shǒuxù · HSK 3
procedures
📋 手 (hand) + 续 (continue) = hand-continuing steps = procedures
手 means hand, 续 means to continue or extend. Together they denote the sequence of hand-completed steps — paperwork, formalities, the procedural chain you must continue through to finish official business.
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.
续 — silk radical 糹+ 賣 (sell, phonetic)
续 is the simplified form of 續. The silk radical 糹 signals the original meaning of joining threads end-to-end, while 賣 served as the phonetic component. From 'splicing silk' the meaning broadened to 'continue, connect, extend' in general use.