The word "掀起" is formed from the characters "掀" and "起". "掀" is a phonetic-semantic character with the hand radical "扌" indicating manual action and the component "欣" suggesting pronunciation, conveying the meaning of lifting. "起" combines the walk radical "走" with "己" for pronunciation, denoting rising or beginning. Their combination yields a verb where "掀" contributes forceful lifting and "起" adds upward motion or inception, together meaning "to lift up" or "to stir up".