握手 (wò shǒu) — to shake hands (with someone) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A set phrase (离合词) meaning 'shake hands'. 握 alone means 'to grasp/hold' — 握手 specifies the social gesture of clasping hands with someone.

verb

to shake hands (with someone)

Examples

握手。
Wǒ men dì yī cì jiàn miàn shí dōu rè qíng dì wò shǒu le.
We all warmly shook hands when we first met.
。
Tā men zhī wò le yí cì shǒu jiù cōng cōng fēn kāi le.
They only shook hands once and then hurried apart.
握手，。
Tā xiào zhe hé wǒ wò shǒu, rán hòu jiè shào le zì jǐ.
He shook hands with me with a smile and then introduced himself.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

握 means to grasp and 手 hand, together to shake hands.

Characters in this word

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

扌屋握

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

屋

屋wū握wò

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

握 has 扌, a hand shape, on the left, and 屋 on the right, which gives 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

HSK 3.0 Level 5 HSK 2.0 Level 4 Greetings & Politeness

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