手纹 (shǒu wén) — palm lines, fingerprints (the lines on the palm of the hand)

Definition

noun
palm linesfingerprints (the lines on the palm of the hand)

Examples

  • 手纹。
    Měi gè rén de shǒu wén dōu bù yí yàng.
    Everyone's palm lines are different.
  • 手纹。
    Suàn mìng xiān sheng kàn le kàn tā de shǒu wén.
    The fortune-teller looked at her palm lines.
  • 手纹，。
    Tā de shǒu wén hěn shēn, yí kàn jiù zhī dào shì gān tǐ lì huó de.
    His palm lines are deep — you can tell at a glance that he does manual labor.

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
纹wénlines

手 (hand) and 纹 (lines) give the lines on the 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.

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 紋; 纹 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìthread
Sound part声符shēngfú
文
文wén紋
Same sound today

The traditional form 紋 pairs 糸 (thread) with 文 as the sound part, giving the sense of a line of thread; this note is about 紋, not 纹.

Open 纹 →

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