手

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See also: 爪 and 寸
手 U+624B, 手
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-624B
← 扊
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 扌 →
⼿ U+2F3F, ⼿
KANGXI RADICAL HAND
← ⼾
 		Kangxi Radicals ⽀ →
🈐 U+1F210, 🈐
SQUARED CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-624B
← 🈂
 		Enclosed Ideographic Supplement 🈑 →

Translingual

Stroke order
4 strokes
Stroke order

Alternative forms

  • 扌 (when used as a left Chinese radical)

Han character

手 (Kangxi radical 64, 手+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 手 (Q), four-corner 20500, composition ⿻𠂌一)

  1. Kangxi radical #64, ⼿.

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 416, character 28
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 11768
  • Dae Jaweon: page 762, character 9
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1824, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+624B

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 手
alternative forms 𠂿
Wikipedia has articles on:

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 手
Western Zhou Warring States Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions Chu slip and silk script Qin slip script Ancient script Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts
Characters in the same phonetic series (手) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
杽 *n̥ʰɯwʔ
手 *hnjɯwʔ

Pictogram (象形) – hand and fingers. The top stroke is the bent over middle finger, while the horizontal strokes are each two fingers. Compare 爪, 寸, 九, 又, and 彐 as a stylized hand. Compare 丑 as an animal claw. See also the bottom part of 举 and 奉.

Note that unlike the other hand/claw characters, 手 has consistently had five fingers: a mammalian/human hand, as opposed to the three digits often found in the others.

Compare also 止 (“foot”), derived from a footprint pointing upward, originally composed of 3 toes and a sole.

Etymology

STEDT compares this word to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g-(t)sjəw-k/ŋ (“wing; hand”) based on Karlgren's Archaic Chinese (Old Chinese) reconstruction *śi̯ôg, connecting it to Tibetan གཤོག (gshog, “wing”).

However, this comparison is not supported by more recent scholarship, in which the Old Chinese is reconstructed with an alveolar nasal (Unger, 1995; Zhengzhang, 1995; Baxter and Sagart, 2014). Evidence for the nasal initial is given in Sagart (1999):

  • 杻 (“handcuffs”) can be written as 杽, so 丑 (OC *ᵇhnruʔ) (with a nasal initial) and 手 seem to be interchangeable as phonetics.
  • The ancient graph 丑 resembles the graph of 又 (“right hand”). 狃 (OC *ᵇnruʔ, “animal track; claw”) seems to be the modern specialized form of 丑, which has been borrowed to represent an earthly branch.

As done by Sagart (1999), Baxter and Sagart (2014) put 杻 (OC *n̥<r>uʔ, “handcuffs”) and 狃 (OC *Cə.n<r>uʔ, “animal track; claw”) into the same word family as 手 (OC *n̥uʔ). Zhengzhang (1995) suggests a connection to Burmese ညှိုး (hnyui:, “forefinger”), which STEDT derives from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-njuŋ ~ *s-m-juŋ ~ *s-m-juw (“finger”).

Alternatively, Schuessler (2007) suggests a tone B endoactive derivation from 收 (OC *nhiu?, “to take; to gather”), literally “that which is doing the taking”.

Pronunciation

Note:
  • ciu3 - vernacular;
  • siu3 - literary.
Note:
  • chhiú - vernacular;
  • siú - literary.
Note:
  • qiu2 - vernacular;
  • xiu2 - literary.
Rime
Character 手
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 書 (26)
Final (韻) 尤 (136)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 書九切
Baxter syuwX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/ɕɨuX/
Pan
Wuyun 		/ɕiuX/
Shao
Rongfen 		/ɕiəuX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/ɕuwX/
Li
Rong 		/ɕiuX/
Wang
Li 		/ɕĭəuX/
Bernhard
Karlgren 		/ɕi̯ə̯uX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		shǒu
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		sau2
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 手
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		shǒu
Middle
Chinese 		‹ syuwX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*n̥uʔ/
English hand

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 手
Reading # 1/1
No. 11665
Phonetic
component 		手
Rime
group 		幽
Rime
subdivision 		2
Corresponding
MC rime 		首
Old
Chinese 		/*hnjɯwʔ/

Definitions

手

  1. hand (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c)
  2. expert; master
    高手  ―  gāoshǒu  ―  master
  3. -ist; -er
    歌手  ―  gēshǒu  ―  singer
  4. convenient; handy; portable
    手機／手机  ―  shǒujī  ―  mobile phone
    手冊／手册  ―  shǒucè  ―  handbook
  5. handwritten
  6. Classifier for skills.
    寫得一手好字／写得一手好字  ―  xiě de yī shǒu hǎo zì  ―  to write a good hand
  7. Classifier for transactions.
  8. (Southern Min) luck in gambling
  9. (Taiwanese Hokkien) hidden part (general)
  10. (finance) Classifier for stocks: lot

See also

  • 手掌 (shǒuzhǎng, “palm”)
  • 手指 (shǒuzhǐ, “finger”)
  • 手腕 (shǒuwàn, “wrist”)
  • 胳膊 (gēbo, “arm”)

Usage notes

In many varieties of Chinese south of the Yangtze River, 手 (shǒu) refers to the arm and hand collectively.

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (手):
  • → Japanese: 手(しゅ) (shu)
  • → Korean: 수(手) (su)
  • → Vietnamese: thủ (手)

Japanese

Kanji

手

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
手
て
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *tay. Compare 目 (me, ma-, “eye”).

Pronunciation

Noun

手(て) • (te) 

  1. a hand
    リンゴを手(て)に持(も)つ
    ringo o te ni motsu
    to hold an apple in one's hand
    手(て)打(う)ちのモールス
    te-uchi no Mōrusu
    manually-keyed Morse code
  2. a handle, grip
  3. a paw, foreleg
  4. a way of acting, means
    その手(て)があったか。
    Sono te ga atta ka.
    You could do it that way too?
    買(か)うのも一(ひと)つの手(て)である。
    Kau no mo hitotsu no te de aru.
    Another way is buying it.
  5. (archaic) handwriting; style of calligraphy of an individual
  6. (board games) a move, play
    • 2002 March 9, Yumi Hotta with Obata, Takeshi, “第(だい)131(ひゃくさんじゅういち)局(きょく)　試(ため)される伊(い)角(すみ) [Game 131: Isumi’s Endeavor]”, in ヒカルの碁 [Hikaru’s Go], volume 16 (fiction), Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN, page 54:
      まだそんな手(て)が残(のこ)ってた——投(とう)了(りょう)は早(はや)すぎた
      Mada sonna te ga nokotteta—— Tōryō wa hayasugita
      There’s still that move — I gave up too soon
Derived terms
Derived terms

Prefix

手(て) • (te-) 

  1. strengthens the prefixed adjective or adjectival noun
    手(て)早(ばや)い、手(て)堅(がた)い
    tebayai, tegatai
    quick, nimble; firm, steady

Suffix

手(て) • (-te) 

  1. one who does the previous word's action: -ist, -er
    語(かた)り手(て)
    katarite
    narrator
    使(つか)い手(て)
    tsukaite
    user
    受(う)け手(て)
    ukete
    recipient
  2. (board games) counter for moves in shogi, go, etc.
Derived terms
See also

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
手
しゅ
Grade: 1
goon

From Middle Chinese 手 (MC syuwX).

Affix

手(しゅ) • (shu) 

  1. hand
  2. handwork
  3. handicraft, skill, talent
  4. one who does an action: -ist, -er
Derived terms
Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 手 (MC syuwX).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448 슈ᇢ〯 (Yale: syǔw)
Middle Korean
Text Eumhun
Gloss (hun) Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527 손〮 (Yale: swón) 슈〮 (Yale: syú)

Pronunciation

  • (hand; person; etc.):
  • (in 수건 (手巾, sugeon)):
    • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key):
    • Phonetic hangul:
      • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

手 (eumhun 손 수 (son su))

  1. hanja form? of 수 (“hand”)
  2. hanja form? of 수 (“suffix related to one's skill or occupation”)

Compounds

Compounds

References

  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Kunigami

Kanji

手

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Pronunciation

Noun

手(てぃー) (thī) 

  1. a hand

Miyako

Kanji

手

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Pronunciation

Noun

手(てぃー) (tī) 

  1. a hand

Okinawan

Kanji

手

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 手 (te).

Pronunciation

Noun

手(てぃー) (tī) 

  1. a hand
  2. a handle, grip
  3. a skill, ability, means; especially in martial arts

Derived terms

Derived terms

Vietnamese

Han character

手: Hán Việt readings: thủ (書(thư)九(cửu)切(thiết))[1][2][3]
手: Nôm readings: thủ[1][3][4][5]

  1. chữ Hán form of thủ (“hand”).

Compounds

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nguyễn et al. (2009).
  2. ^ Trần (2004).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Bonet (1899).
  4. ^ Génibrel (1898).
  5. ^ Taberd & Pigneau de Béhaine (1838).

Yaeyama

Kanji

手

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Pronunciation

Noun

手(てぃー) (tī) 

  1. a hand

Yonaguni

Kanji

手

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Pronunciation

Noun

手(てぃー) (tī) 

  1. a hand
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