引く
ひく · hiku · JLPT N5 · verb-godan
to pull
🧲 hiku sounds like hook: hook it and pull it toward you
A hook pulls things in, and hiku covers every kind of pulling: pull a door, draw a line, draw a card, pull a number out (subtract). The kanji 引 is a bow 弓 plus a line 丨, the string being drawn back.
引 — bow 弓 + vertical stroke 丨
A compound ideograph showing a bow 弓 with a vertical line 丨 representing the drawn bowstring. The original meaning was 'to draw a bow,' which extended to 'pull,' 'lead,' 'guide,' and 'cite.' The vertical stroke depicts the action of pulling the string back.