捂
wǔ · HSK 7
to cover with the hand
✋🙈 捂 = 扌 hand + 吾 (wú = I), the phonetic — a hand that covers
The hand radical 扌 tells you the action; 吾 (wú, meaning I) is borrowed for its sound, near wǔ. So 捂 is the hand pressing over eyes, nose, or ears — or covering up an affair.
捂 — hand radical 扌 + 吾 (I, me)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning (an action done with the hand, namely covering), while 吾 supplies the sound, close to wǔ. The original sense of physically covering or sealing with the hand later extended to figurative uses like keeping something hidden or stifled.