到手 (dào shǒu) — to get one's hands on, to obtain (something) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

到手 (dào shǒu) emphasizes that something has finally arrived in one's possession — 'come/get into hand' — often after effort. As a resultative verb, 手 (the hand) is the reached endpoint, not an object.

verb

to get one's hands onto obtain (something)

Examples

到手。
Tā fèi le hěn dà lì qi cái bǎ nà ge zhí wèi dào shǒu.
He went to great lengths to get that position.
。
Zhè bǐ qián bù róng yì dào dé le shǒu.
This sum of money is not easy to get.
到手，。
Hé tong yǐ jīng dào shǒu le, wǒ men kāi shǐ ba.
The contract is already in hand; let's get started.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

到 means reach and 手 means hand; together they mean come into one's hand.

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

至至zhìto arrive

Sound part声符shēngfú

刀

刀dāo到dào

Same sound today

到 combines 至, meaning 'to arrive', with 刀 as the sound part. The 至 part points to the idea of reaching a stopping point.

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

Abstract Concepts

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