掐

qiā

to pick (flowers)

to pinch; to nip; to pinch off; to clutch; (slang) to fight

hand (扌) + phonetic (臽) = pinch or nip with the fingers

The hand radical anchors the meaning: fingers pressing, pinching, or snapping off. 臽 contributes the qiā sound rather than a semantic idea.

扌+臽→掐

扌HandSemantic

臽No direct semantic contributionPhonetic

她从花园里掐了一朵小花。

tā cóng huā yuán lǐ qiā le yī duǒ xiǎo huā。

She picked a small flower from the garden.

他生气地掐住了弟弟的手臂。

tā shēng qì de qiā zhù le dì di de shǒu bì。

He angrily pinched his younger brother's arm.

掐断

qiā duàn

to nip off (with fingernails etc)

掐架

qiā jià

(of dogs, roosters etc) to fight; to tussle

掐死

qiā sǐ

to throttle

掐算

qiā suàn

to count with one's fingers

掐脖子

qiā bó zi

to seize by the throat

掐表

qiā biǎo

to use a stopwatch