手动 (shǒu dòng) — manual, manually operated

Definition

Adjective meaning 'manual / hand-operated' (a 手动 transmission, 手动 focus). Don't confuse with 手册 or 说明书 ('manual' the book); 手工 means 'handicraft'.

adjective

manualmanually operated

手动。
Zhè shì shǒu dòng gōng zuò tái.
This is a manual workbench.
手动。
Tā gèng xǐ huan shǒu dòng dǎng de chē.
He prefers cars with manual transmission.
手动。
Xiàng jī de shǒu dòng duì jiāo fēi cháng jīng zhǔn.
The camera's manual focus is very accurate.

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.

手 hand and 动 move: operated by hand.

Characters in this word

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.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 動; 动 is its simplified writing.

重力動

Meaning part形符xíngfú

力力lìstrength

Sound part声符shēngfú

重

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 動 uses 力 (strength) and 重 as a sound part; 重 refers to a heavy bag ready to be moved by a human. This note is about 動, not 动.

Appears in