揉む
もむ · momu · JLPT N2 · verb-godan
to rub
📄 揉 = hand radical 扌 + 柔 (soft): work something with your hands until it goes soft
The left part 扌 is the hand radical, and the right part 柔 means soft. Rubbing or crumpling with your hands makes things soft or wrinkled, which matches both senses of もむ.
揉 — hand radical 扌 + soft 柔
A semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 indicates a manual action, while 柔 (soft, pliant) supplies both the sound and the sense of softness. Together they depict the action of rubbing or kneading something soft with the hands.