妙手 (miào shǒu) — excellent skill; masterful technique | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A literary noun for a person of exceptional skill or the masterful technique itself — used in written Chinese, especially for medicine, chess, and art. Often appears in the set phrase 妙手回春 ('a master hand restores spring,' i.e., a miraculous cure).

noun

excellent skillmasterful technique

Examples

妙手。
Zhè wèi yī shēng de miào shǒu zhì hǎo le hěn duō bìng rén.
This doctor's excellent skill cured many patients.
妙手。
Tā yòng gāo chāo de miào shǒu wán chéng le yì fú jié zuò.
He used his superb skill to complete a masterpiece.
妙手。
Qí shǒu de miào shǒu ràng duì shǒu tàn fú.
The chess player's masterful moves made the opponent admire.

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.

妙miàowonderful

妙 expresses wonderful or masterful, and 手 refers to skill or hand, together giving excellent technique.

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.

女少妙

Meaning part形符xíngfú

女女nǚwoman

Sound part声符shēngfú

少

少shǎo妙miào

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

妙 combines 女, a woman, with 少, which gives the sound.

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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