the.com/paw

means The clawed, padded foot of a four-legged animal — or, informally, a human hand reaching for something.

from From Old French 'poue' or 'powe,' of uncertain deeper origin — likely from a Gaulish or other Celtic root, possibly related to words for 'hoof' or 'fist' in old Germanic and Celtic languages. It padded into English by the 1300s, and by the 1600s people were already using it jokingly for human hands — 'paws off!' is centuries old, not slang invented yesterday.