手
shǒu
Definition
The hand; the part of the body at the end of the arm, used for holding and touching things.
Example
她用手轻轻地摸了摸小猫。
Show translation
She gently touched the little cat with her hand.
Etymology
Oracle bone script (甲骨文) depicts five fingers spread from a wrist — the character has been a direct pictogram of a hand for over 3,000 years. As a radical (手旁 / 扌), it appears in hundreds of action-related characters, such as 打 (to hit), 拿 (to hold), and 推 (to push), signalling that the meaning involves the hands or manual action.
Cultural note
手 is enormously productive in Chinese. It compounds into everyday words like 手机 (shǒujī, "mobile phone" — literally "hand machine"), 手表 (shǒubiǎo, "wristwatch"), and 握手 (wòshǒu, "handshake"). The phrase 手到擒来 (shǒu dào qín lái, "as soon as the hand arrives, it's caught") means something is easily achieved. Note: unlike in some Western contexts, handing objects to elders with both hands is considered respectful in Chinese culture.