玩耍
wán shuǎ · HSK 7
to play
🧸 玩耍 = 玩 (play) + 耍 (frolic/play around)
Both characters mean play, stacked together for emphasis. 玩 is the everyday verb for play; 耍 leans toward fooling around or messing about. The compound is what children do — pure unstructured play.
耍 — 而 (beard) + 女 (woman)
耍 combines 而 (originally a beard) above 女 (woman). The graph is traditionally read as a woman toying with or teasing a bearded figure, giving the sense of 'play, trifle, amuse oneself.' It is a relatively late character used mainly for the verb 'to play' or 'to perform tricks.'