Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
刷 first showed a squatting person with a cloth in hand; 尸 is the person, 巾 is the cloth, and 刂 was once 又, a hand. The first sense was 'to wipe clean', which grew to 'to brush, scrub' and 'to paint'. Read shuà, it means 'to select'.
Drawn as: squatting person; cloth in hand
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