Wǒ de shǒuzhǐ dòngjiāng le, yǐzhìyú wúfǎ tán gāngqín le.
My fingers are so numb with cold that I can’t play the piano.
Sentence #333903 from Tatoeba · translation adapted
How 手指 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.
指zhǐfinger
扌hand form of 手 · shǒu
旨aim · zhǐ
How to write 手指
手 4 strokes · 指 9 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 手指 (shǒuzhǐ). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
Say it shǒuzhǐ: shǒu with a 3rd tone, then zhǐ with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like shóuzhǐ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 手指 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè) or 只 (zhī). For example, one finger is 一个手指 (yí ge shǒuzhǐ).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shouzhi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 手指 from the suggestions. Typing shouzhi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
手指 is an HSK 5 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.
手shǒu3rd tone, dipping
