魔手 (mó shǒu) — devil's hand (literal); (figurative) evil influence, corrupting reach

Definition

魔手 is a literary metaphor meaning 'evil hand / corrupting reach' — used for sinister forces (crime, corruption, drug trade) extending into a place, not a literal hand. Closer to 魔爪 (claws of evil) than to plain 手.

noun
devil's hand (literal)(figurative) evil influencecorrupting reach
Measure word · 只

Examples

  • ，魔手。
    Tā huà le yí gè è mó, mó shǒu xiǎn de fēi cháng kǒng bù.
    He drew a demon, and its devil's hand looked terrifying.
  • 魔手。
    Dú pǐn jiāo yì de mó shǒu yǐ jīng shēn xiàng le xiào yuán.
    The devil's hand of drug trafficking has already reached into school campuses.
  • 魔手。
    Tā bù xiǎng ràng fǔ bài de mó shǒu kòng zhì zhè ge zǔ zhī.
    He doesn't want the devil's hand of corruption to control this organization.

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.

魔módemon
手shǒuhand

魔 names a demon, and 手 is the hand of that demon.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
鬼鬼guǐdemon
Sound part声符shēngfú
麻
麻má魔mó
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

魔 pairs 鬼, meaning demon, with 麻, which gives the sound.

Open 魔 →

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 →

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