手伝い
てつだい · tetsudai · JLPT N3 · noun
aid
🤝 手伝い = hand + pass along: lending someone your hand
手 (te) means hand. 伝 is the kanji in 伝える (tsutaeru), to pass on or convey. Passing your hands along to someone else's task is helping, and the same word also names the person who does it: a helper or assistant.
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.