托
tuō · HSK 6
hold in palm
🤲 Hand (扌) asks someone: TO hold this for me, please?
Left side is the hand radical 扌, right side 托 sounds like English TO. A hand reaching out TO support something from underneath, like a waiter carrying a tray on an upturned palm.
托 — hand radical 扌 + 乇 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 扌 (hand) gives the meaning—actions done with the hands like supporting, holding up, or entrusting—while 乇 supplies the sound. The original sense of physically holding something on the palm extended to figurative uses like 'entrust' or 'rely on'.