p8nda
p8nda BETA
Home Dictionary Translate Flashcards Sign in

授

shòu
verb #16,157

Meanings

  1. 1 to confer
  2. 2 to give
  3. 3 to teach

Examples

大学教授很有学问。
Dàxué jiàoshòu hěn yǒu xuéwen.
University professors are very knowledgeable.
授人以鱼不如授人以渔。
Shòu rén yǐ yú bùrú shòu rén yǐ yú.
Give a man a fish, better to teach him to fish.

Tips

usage
Common in 教授 (jiàoshòu, professor) and 授权 (shòuquán, to authorize).

Components

radical
扌 shǒu
hand (radical form of 手)
Hand radical on the left — added later to disambiguate 'give' from 'receive', both of which originally shared the picture in 受 (two hands passing an object). The extra hand explicitly marks the giver's side of the exchange. Sits with 提 lift, 持 hold, 拿 carry — the manual-action family. Without 扌, the character would just be 受 'to accept'.
phonetic
受 shòu
receive; accept (here phonetic)
Right side 受 supplies the sound directly — same shòu with no shift. 受 itself depicts two hands and a boat-shaped object being passed between them, originally meaning both 'give' and 'receive'. The 扌 was bolted on later to split off the active 'give' sense, leaving 受 to carry the passive 'receive' meaning.

Stroke Order

授 shòu