希

Bottom cloth — pictures a hand spreading a piece of fabric. The whole compound 希 = "loose-weave cloth" originally meant something rare and thin, from which extended the modern senses of "to hope (for what is rare)," "rare, scarce." Same family as 帽 (hat), 帆 (sail).

Top 乂-shape — historically the top of 希 was an open weave or net pattern, here regularized to the crossed-stroke 乂. Together with 布 below, the original picture was a loosely woven cloth — sparse threads with gaps between them. From "loose-weave cloth" came the abstract "rare, sparse, scarce."