派手
はで · hade · JLPT N3 · na-adj
showy
🦚 派手 = spread out + hand: a hand flung wide to show off
派 means to branch out or send out, and 手 is hand. The word is often traced to 破手 (hade), a flashy, rule-breaking way of playing the shamisen, as opposed to the plain standard style 本手 (honte).
派 — water radical 氵 + 𠂢 (branching stream)
派 originally depicted branching tributaries of a river, with 氵 (water) added to reinforce the meaning. The right side 𠂢 shows a stream splitting into smaller channels. From 'river branch' it extended to mean a faction, school, or to dispatch/send out.
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.