手 (shǒu): hand

Measure Word

一只手 zhī

Meanings

1 hand

Characters

手

shǒu

hand

Examples

HSK 1

他的手很大。

Tā de shǒu hěn dà.

His hands are big.

HSK 1

洗手了吗？

Xǐshǒu le ma?

Did you wash your hands?

HSK 2

请举手。

Qǐng jǔshǒu.

Please raise your hand.

Tips

history

手 is a pictograph showing five fingers on a hand. It is also a common radical in characters related to actions: 打 (hit), 拿 (take), 找 (find).

usage

手 appears in many compound words: 手机 (phone), 手表 (watch), 歌手 (singer), 选手 (competitor).

Components

pictograph

手 shǒu

hand

Single self-pictograph - a stylised drawing of a hand held up with fingers spread. The hooked top stroke is the wrist arching over, the middle horizontals are the splayed fingers, and the long descender is the forearm. Self-radical (Kangxi #64). Anchors a vast family: 拿, 拳, 掌, 摩, plus the side-form 扌 in 打, 拉, 推, 找 - all hand-actions.

Radical

Hand Kangxi #64

One of the most productive action radicals. Strong clue that a character involves doing something with the hands — striking, holding, grasping, manipulating. Appears as 扌 on the left of characters (打, 拿, 把, 推, 找) and as 龵 on top in a few rare forms; the canonical 手 itself appears mostly as a bottom or right component (拳, 拜).

Forms

手 shǒu

Default 16 characters

扌 tíshǒupáng

Left 268 characters

龵 shǒu

Top 0 characters