八 is derived from the image of two hands holding something. It serves as a semantic component in some cases. Some characters formed by the semantic component 八 denote hand-related actions or hand-related extended meanings.
Check out also these variants of 手: 又 and 攴
Characters formed by the component 八
兵共兴典具 bīng gòng xìng diǎn jù
Pay attention:
Not all the characters formed the component 八 have to do with a hand. 八 can also mean “havle, part or separate”.