拍手
はくしゅ · hakushu · JLPT N3 · noun
hands
👏 拍手 = clap + hand: hands that clap make applause
拍 (haku) means to clap or strike, and also a beat in music. 手 (shu) is hand, as in 握手 akushu, a handshake. Clap plus hands gives applause. Rhymes with akushu, so the two hand words make a pair.
拍 — hand radical 扌 + white 白
A semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning (an action done with the hand, namely clapping or striking), while 白 (bái) supplies the phonetic clue for pāi. The original sense was to slap or pat with the open hand, later extending to beat (as in musical rhythm) and to take a photograph.
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.