扶
fú · HSK 5
support with the hand
🤝 扶 = 扌(hand) + 夫(man); a hand steadies a man upright
The 扌 radical marks hand-actions; 夫 (fū, husband/man) supplies the sound. So 扶 literally pairs a hand with a man — the hand props the person up, matching the meaning to support or steady someone.
扶 — hand radical 扌 + 夫 (fū, man)
扶 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 carries the meaning of supporting or helping with the hand, while 夫 supplies the sound 'fu'. The original sense was to steady or hold someone up by hand, which broadened to today's meanings of supporting, assisting, or propping up.