手巧 (shǒu qiǎo) — skillful with one's hands; dexterous

Definition

verb
skillful with one's handsdexterous

Examples

  • 手巧，。
    Tā shǒu qiǎo, zuò shén me dōu hǎo kàn.
    She is skillful with her hands; whatever she does looks good.
  • 手巧，。
    Zhè ge nǚ hái shǒu qiǎo, huì zuò gè zhǒng xiǎo dōng xi.
    This girl is dexterous; she can make all kinds of small things.
  • ，手巧。
    Nǎi nai suī rán nián jì dà le, dàn shǒu qiǎo.
    Although grandma is old, she is still skillful with her hands.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

手shǒuhand
巧qiǎoskillful

手 refers to the hands, and 巧 to skillfulness, saying the hands are deft.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
工工gōng
Sound part声符shēngfú
丂
丂kǎo巧qiǎo
Same sound today

巧 is made of 工 and 丂; 工 points to its meaning, and 丂 points to its sound.

Open 巧 →

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