揣摩
chuǎi mó · HSK 7
to try to figure out
🔍🤔 CHEW-eye MO-ment: chew on it and mull it over
揣 (chuǎi) means to estimate or ponder, 摩 (mó) means to rub or study closely. Together they mean to carefully turn something over in your thinking, rubbing at a problem until you figure it out.
揣 — hand 扌 + 端 (duān) phonetic
A phono-semantic compound. The hand radical 扌 indicates the meaning, since the original sense involves carrying something tucked inside one's clothes. The right side 耑 (related to 端) supplies the sound. The meaning later extended to 'estimate' or 'guess' (chuǎi), as in weighing something by feel.