漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
手: hand
Bronze · Western Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
シュshu · on'yomi · in compounds
- 握手するあくしゅするshake hands
- 選手せんしゅplayer (in game)
- 手話しゅわsign language
てte · kun'yomi · on its own
- 手紙てがみletter
- 手帳てちょうnotebook
- 手前てまえin front of oneself, this side
- お手洗いおてあらいtoilet
た-ta- · kun'yomi
- 手綱たづなbridle
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 上手なじょうずなskillful
- 手伝うてつだうhelp
- 下手なへたなunskillful
Also read ズ, て-, -て, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
Hand and fingers. The top stroke is the bent over middle finger, while the horizontal strokes are each two fingers.
Source: Wiktionary, 手 (rev. 93659566), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“The base kanji for the human hand, the starting point for all concepts involving touch, action, and specialized skill.”
Connections
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · shǒu
Same form: 手 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 手 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 手 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin shǒu most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.