The story of 弄

manage, handle

弄 is composed of 王 and 廾(hands joined). 王 is the picture of counting rods, while 廾 is the picture of two hands, so 弄 depicts two hands arranging counting rods for calculation. The original meaning of 弄 is counting rods, but such meaning has been replaced by 筭 and 算, now 弄 means managing and playing with something.