爪

Noun: Claw, talon, or nail (including human fingernails in early contexts).

Verb: To clutch, seize, grasp, or scratch.

Early pictographic usage often exhibits a "noun-as-verb" shift, where the glyph denotes the action associated with the organ rather than the organ itself.

Contrast with 手 (hand): While 手 generally denotes the hand as an instrument of agency or utility, 爪 emphasizes the physical mechanics of contact—specifically the grip, the sharp edge, or the act of seizing.

Contrast with 指 (zhǐ): Whereas 爪 concerns the grip/grasp, 指 concerns direction and pointing.

Related to 捉 (zhuō): The later development of "capture" inherits the core semantic energy of 爪.

In early scripts (Oracle Bone/Bronze), the distinction between a human hand and an animal claw may be negligible.

The variant form 爫 is used as a top radical (e.g., in 采); when appearing at the top of a character, it consistently indicates an action performed downward—reaching down to seize or gather.

In early texts, if the glyph is being used to signify "the hand," it usually does so because the priority of the sentence is the act of grasping or gripping.