The radical of the character can tell you what kind of word it is. For instance, 泳 and 池 are words related to water because of the three strokes on the left. I guess they resemble drops of water. 💦 What I don’t know is the process in which these radicals came about. I just learnt the radicals by heart without bothering to find out about their history. Haha

Here’s an example of how the character for hands, 手 was used by Tokyo Hands as inspiration for its logo.