手元
てもと · temoto · JLPT N1 · adverb
on hand or at home
👛 手 (hand) + 元 (origin): the money within your hand's reach, i.e. your purse
The same idea covers your usual skill: what sits at the origin of your hand's reach is what you use without searching. 手元 is the spot right by your hand.
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.
元 — 二 (two) + 兒 variant 儿 (legs/person)
元 originally depicted a person with the head emphasized on top, meaning 'head' or 'origin'. From this came the extended senses of 'first', 'beginning', and 'primary'. It was later borrowed as the name of the Yuan dynasty and the modern Chinese currency unit.