秉 is literary and mostly appears in fixed compounds like 秉公 (be impartial), 秉承 (inherit/uphold), 秉持 (hold to), and 秉性 (nature). Rarely stands alone in modern speech.
memory
The character pictures a hand grasping a stalk of grain (禾) — the literal meaning is 'to hold a sheaf', extended to 'hold/uphold' anything.
