挽 (wǎn): to hold (someone's arm); to rol…

Meanings

1 to hold (someone's arm); to roll up (sleeves)
2 to pull; to draw (a bow)
3 to save; to retrieve

Characters

挽

wan

to hold; to roll up; to save

Examples

她挽着男朋友的胳膊。

Tā wǎn zhe nánpéngyou de gēbo.

She was holding her boyfriend's arm.

他挽起袖子开始干活。

Tā wǎn qǐ xiùzi kāishǐ gànhuó.

He rolled up his sleeves and started working.

Tips

usage

挽 is versatile: 挽着胳膊 (arm in arm), 挽起袖子 (roll up sleeves), 挽回 (salvage/retrieve), 挽留 (try to make someone stay). The common thread is pulling something toward you or keeping it close.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Left hand radical, the side form of 手. It indexes 挽 in the action-with-hands family: 拉 pull, 推 push, 抓 grab, 提 lift. To 挽 is something you do with your hands — pulling back, rolling up, looping around. The radical commits the character to physical, manual action.

phonetic

免 miǎn

to avoid; exempt (here phonetic)

Right side 免 supplies the sound, miǎn → wǎn with m/w drift attested in the same series 晚 evening, 娩 give birth, 冕 crown. 免 itself depicts a person ducking under a helmet to escape danger; pair that 'pull back to safety' image with the hand radical and you get 挽: to draw back, retrieve, save.