扬
yáng · HSK 7
to raise
🙌 hand radical 扌 + 昜 (rising, as in 阳/sun yáng) = a hand that makes things rise
扌 marks an action of the hand; 昜 carries the sense of rising up and shares the yáng sound with 阳 (sun). Together they give the meaning of raising, hoisting, or tossing grain so the chaff scatters in the wind.
扬 — hand radical 扌 + 昜 (rising sun)
扬 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning (an action done with the hand), while 昜 (sun rising over the horizon) supplies the sound 'yáng'. The original sense was to raise or lift up, which broadened to 'spread, scatter, make known'. The modern simplified form replaces the older 揚.