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手头 (shǒu tóu) — on hand, at hand (physically nearby); one's financial situation (tight, well-off, etc.)

Definition

手头 means literally "at hand / on hand" — either something physically within reach (手头紧忙) or, more often, one's current money situation (手头紧 = short on cash). For finances it's more colloquial than 富裕 or 小康, which describe a stable state.

noun
on handat hand (physically nearby)one's financial situation (tight, well-off, etc.)

Examples

  • 手头。
    Wǒ shǒu tóu yǒu yì běn cí diǎn.
    I have a dictionary on hand.
  • 手头，。
    Tā zuì jìn shǒu tóu hěn jǐn, bù gǎn luàn huā qián.
    He's short of money lately and doesn't dare spend recklessly.
  • 手头，。
    shǒu tóu De gōng zuò tài duō, zuò bù wán.
    There's too much work on hand to finish.

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.

手shǒuhand
头tóuside

手 hand and 头 side: at hand, one's current means.

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.

Open 手 →

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 頭; 头 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yèhead
Sound part声符shēngfú
豆
豆dòu頭tóu
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 頭 shows 頁, meaning head, beside 豆 as a sound component; the simplified 头 is a later shorthand.

Open 头 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Money & Currency5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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