HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Body

手 shǒu “hand” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 手 means

  1. hand
  2. (formal) to hold
  3. person engaged in certain types of work
  4. person skilled in certain types of work
  5. personal(ly)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • convenient

Measure word 双 shuāng or 只 zhī · 一双手 yì shuāng shǒu

How to say 手

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale手shǒu3rd tone, dipping

手 in a sentence

  1. 你的手干净吗？

    Nǐ de shǒu gānjìng ma?

    Are your hands clean?

    Sentence #793234 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 你可以握住我的手。

    Nǐ kěyǐ wòzhù wǒ de shǒu.

    You can hold my hand.

    Sentence #5650456 from Tatoeba

  3. 他没有举起他的手。

    Tā méiyǒu jǔqǐ tā de shǒu.

    He didn’t raise his hand.

    Sentence #336082 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 手 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 手 (shǒu) drawn as one shape
手shǒuhand

手 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from a hand with its fingers spread. On the left of a character it is written 扌.

How to write 手

手 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

手 (shǒu) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 手 (shǒu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 手

Words with 手

手表shǒubiǎo · watch手机shǒujī · mobile phone洗手间xǐshǒujiān · toilet分手fēnshǒu · to break up手术shǒushù · (surgical) operation手指shǒuzhǐ · finger手套shǒutào · glove对手duìshǒu · opponent握手wòshǒu · to shake hands手工shǒugōng · handmade

More words: People, Body & Health

男孩儿nánháir · boy女孩儿nǚháir · girl小孩儿xiǎoháir · child姓名xìngmíng · full name头tóu · head阿姨āyí · auntie别人biéren · other people客人kèrén · guest

FAQs

手 (shǒu) means “hand” or “(formal) to hold”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it shǒu: shǒu with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 手 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 双 (shuāng) or 只 (zhī). For example, one hand is 一双手 (yì shuāng shǒu).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 手 from the suggestions. Typing shou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
手 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.