scratch, rake, comb, paddle, behead
掻 centers on scraping or drawing a tool across a surface: scratching an itch, raking leaves, combing hair, or paddling through water. The behead sense is a rare, violent extension of the same scraping action.
掻 is the modern simplified form of 搔. The older form combines 扌 (hand) with 蚤 (flea), suggesting scratching or scraping with the hand. The modern form replaces the right side with a simplified version.
The hand radical 扌 beside a shape that looks like a flea (虫 over 又) suggests a hand scratching a flea bite. This scraping action extends to raking, combing, and paddling.
For ソウ, imagine scratching a sore spot: the word 'sore' sounds like ソウ, and your hand is scratching the sore.
to scratch
to paw (at) the ground
stroke (swimming); arm stroke
to stir up; to poke (the fire); to beat (an egg)
struggling; pawing (e.g. horses' hooves)
scratch reflex
to rummage through; to ransack (e.g. a drawer)
draining a pond, lake or ditch (esp. to remove fish, purify water, etc.)
to sum up; to summarize; to summarise
superficial (knowledge, learning, etc.); shallow
(not) at all; wholly; entirely; completely; totally
to slip through; to slip past; to evade
to haul in hand over hand
to carry under the arm
to cling to
to push aside; to push one's way through
to cut; to slit; to slash
to smooth out; to rake
to scratch open (a wound); to scratch off (a scab)
small castle with a simple earthen-walled moat