杀手
shā shoǔ · HSK 7
hit man
🔪 杀 (kill) + 手 (hand) = the kill-hand, a killer or hit man
杀 means to kill; 手 means hand and often marks a person defined by what their hands do (歌手 singer, 选手 player). So 杀手 is literally a kill-hand: a killer or hired hit man, and by extension a deadly player in sports.
杀 — 刂 knife radical + 朩 phonetic
杀 (shā) means 'to kill.' The traditional form 殺 shows a hand wielding a weapon (殳) beside a phonetic element. The simplified form keeps a reduced phonetic 朩 over 朩, with the knife radical 刂 originally implied through the weapon component, signaling violent action.
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.