HSK 6 · Body

手势 shǒushì “gesture” in Chinese

Traditional 手勢

What 手势 means

  1. gesture
  2. hand signal
  3. sign
  4. signal

How to say 手势

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale手shǒu3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale势shì4th tone, falling

手势 in a sentence

  1. 她们用手势沟通。

    Tāmen yòng shǒushì gōutōng.

    They communicate using hand gestures.

    Sentence #10323881 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 我对她做了一个手势，叫她坐下。

    Wǒ duì tā zuò le yí ge shǒushì, jiào tā zuòxià.

    I motioned for her to sit down.

    Sentence #492885 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 她给我打了一个看不懂的手势。

    Tā gěi wǒ dǎ le yí ge kànbudǒng de shǒushì.

    She made a hand gesture I didn’t understand.

    Sentence #4764877 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 手势 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.

The character 势 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
势shìpower
  • 执to execute · zhíSound part
  • 力strength · lìMeaning part

力 hints at the meaning (strength); 执 (zhí) hints at the sound. Compare it with shì.

How to write 手势

手 4 strokes · 势 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 手势

Words with 手

手shǒu · hand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

Words with 势

姿势zīshì · posture趋势qūshì · trend形势xíngshì · circumstances优势yōushì · superiority地势dìshì · terrain势力shìli · power局势júshì · situation (esp. political or military)气势qìshì · momentum声势shēngshì · momentum势必shìbì · bound to

More words: People, Body & Health

视力shìlì · eyesight逝世shìshì · to pass away尸体shītǐ · corpse视线shìxiàn · line of sight衰老shuāilǎo · to grow old死亡sǐwáng · death四肢sìzhī · limbs苏醒sūxǐng · to regain consciousness

FAQs

手势 (shǒushì) means “gesture” or “hand signal”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shǒushì: shǒu with a 3rd tone, then shì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 手势 is written 手勢. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shoushi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 手势 from the suggestions. Typing shoushi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
手势 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.