一把手 (yī bǎ shǒu) — head, chief, first in command; a good hand, an… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A colloquial term meaning 'top leader / the person in charge' (the boss of an organization). It can also mean 'a good hand, an able person' at some skill.

noun

headchieffirst in commanda good handan able person

Examples

一把手。
Tā shì wǒ men gōng sī de yī bǎ shǒu.
He is the head of our company.
一把手。
Tā zài biān chéng fāng miàn shì yī bǎ shǒu.
She is a good hand at programming.
一把手。
Xīn lái de yī bǎ shǒu hěn yǒu jīng yàn.
The new chief is very experienced.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

一把one grasp

一yīone把bǎgrasp

偏正Modifier + head

一把 suggests a grasp and 手 names the hand, together giving the leader or able person.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

扌巴把

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

巴

巴bā把bǎ

Same sound today

把 combines 扌, a hand, with 巴 for its sound.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

手 draws a five-fingered human hand: the top line is a bent middle finger, and the horizontal lines show the other four fingers.

Appears in

Management Social Roles & Status

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