招手
zhāo shoǔ · HSK 5
to wave
👋 招手 = beckon + hand
招 means to beckon or summon; 手 means hand. Together: beckon-hand, the gesture of waving someone over. The 扌 radical on the left of 招 is the hand radical, doubling down on the hand theme.
招 — hand radical 扌 + 召 (call)
招 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 supplies the meaning—an action done with the hand—while 召 (to summon, call) gives both phonetic value and reinforces the sense. Together they depict beckoning someone with a hand gesture, extended to 'recruit' or 'attract'.
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.