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亲手 (qīn shǒu) — personally; with one's own hands

Definition

Emphasizes doing something with one's own hands — physical, hands-on action (making, writing, building). Pairs with 一手 'all by oneself / single-handedly', while 亲自 is broader: 'in person, personally' for any situation.

adverb
personallywith one's own hands

Examples

  • 亲手。
    Zhè shì tā qīn shǒu zuò de dàn gāo.
    This is a cake she made with her own hands.
  • 亲手。
    Wǒ xiǎng qīn shǒu bǎ lǐ wù sòng gěi tā.
    I want to personally give him the gift.
  • 亲手。
    Tā qīn shǒu xiě le zhè fēng gǎn xiè xìn.
    He personally wrote this thank-you letter.

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.

亲qīnpersonally
手shǒuhand

亲 expresses personally and 手 expresses hand, so together they mean with one's own 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 親; 亲 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
見見jiànsee
Sound part声符shēngfú
辛
辛xīn親qīn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 親 uses 見 (see) for sense and 辛 (a chisel) for sound; the simplified 亲 is a shorthand and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 亲 →

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 7-95000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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