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二手 (èr shǒu) — second-hand (of goods); indirect (of information or source)

Definition

二手 means 'second-hand' — for used goods (二手自行车) and for information heard from someone else rather than witnessed firsthand. It's more colloquial than 间接, which is the formal word for 'indirect.'

adjective
second-hand (of goods)indirect (of information or source)

Examples

  • 二手。
    Tā mǎi le yí liàng èr shǒu zì xíng chē.
    He bought a second-hand bicycle.
  • 二手，。
    Zhè ge xiāo xi shì èr shǒu de, bù yí dìng kě kào.
    This news is second-hand and may not be reliable.
  • 二手。
    Wǒ cháng zài wǎng shàng mǎi èr shǒu shū.
    I often buy used books online.

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.

二èrsecond
手shǒuhand

二手 is a 'second 手', so something passed through another hand is second-hand or indirect.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

二 is drawn as two parallel strokes, where the number of strokes shows the amount.

Open 二 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5Shopping & Errands

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