支撑
zhīchēng · HSK 6
support
🪵 支 branch + 撑 hand-prop = a stick bracing something up
支 originally meant a tree branch, the kind you wedge under a sagging shelf. 撑 adds the hand radical: the act of pushing that branch into place to hold weight.
支 — hand 又 holding a branch 十
Originally a pictograph showing a hand (又) holding a branch broken from a tree, depicting the act of supporting or propping something up. From this came meanings like 'branch,' 'to support,' and 'to pay out.' It also serves as a phonetic component in characters like 枝 (branch) and 技 (skill).
撑 — hand radical 扌 + 掌 phonetic 牚
A semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 signals an action done with the hands, while the right side gives the sound. The original sense of propping or supporting with the hands extended to meanings like 'to prop up,' 'to hold open' (as an umbrella), and 'to be full to bursting.'