He supported his family with his shoe-repair trade.
Sentence by WillyChina
How 手艺 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.
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.
艺yìskill
艹grass form of 艸 · cǎoMeaning part
乙second (cyclical) · yǐSound part
艹 hints at the meaning (grass); 乙 (yǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.
How to write 手艺
手 4 strokes · 艺 4 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.
Stroke order chart for 手艺 (shǒuyì). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
手艺 (shǒuyì) means “craftsmanship” or “skill”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shǒuyì: shǒu with a 3rd tone, then yì 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, 手艺 is written 手藝. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shouyi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 手艺 from the suggestions. Typing shouyi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
手艺 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
Turn words into conversations
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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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.
手shǒu3rd tone, dipping
艺yì4th tone, falling
