大拇指 (dà mu zhǐ) — thumb | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

thumb

Measure word · 根

Examples

大拇指。
Tā shù qǐ dà mu zhǐ chēng zàn wǒ.
He gave me a thumbs up to praise me.
大拇指。
dà mu zhǐ Shì shǒu shàng zuì cū de shǒu zhǐ.
The thumb is the thickest finger on the hand.
大拇指。
Tā yòng lì àn le yí xià dà mu zhǐ.
She pressed her thumb down hard.

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.

拇指thumb

拇mǔthumb指zhǐfinger

偏正Modifier + head

大 means big, 拇指 names the thumb, so the whole names the big finger of the hand.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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

扌母拇

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

母

母mǔ拇mǔ

Same sound today

拇 has 扌, the hand form written fully as 手, and 母, which gives the sound.

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

扌旨指

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

旨

旨zhǐ指zhǐ

Same sound today

The left part 扌 is the hand form 手. The right part 旨 gives the sound.

Appears in

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