巧手 (qiǎo shǒu) — skilled person; deft hand; ace

Definition

巧手 (qiǎoshǒu) literally 'skillful hand' — used to praise someone's craftsmanship or manual dexterity. Often paired with 师傅 or used as a title for someone whose hands are exceptionally deft.

noun
skilled persondeft handace
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 巧手，。
    Tā shì yí wèi qiǎo shǒu, zuò shén me dōu yòu kuài yòu hǎo.
    She is a skilled person; everything she does is fast and good.
  • 巧手。
    Zhè wèi qiǎo shǒu shī fu zuò de cài fēi cháng hǎo chī.
    This skilled master chef's cooking is very delicious.
  • ，巧手，。
    Zài gōng chǎng lǐ, tā bèi chēng wéi qiǎo shǒu, yīn wèi tā de shǒu yì tè bié hǎo.
    In the factory, he is called a deft hand because his craftsmanship is especially good.

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.

巧qiǎoskilled
手shǒuhand

巧 means skilled and 手 means hand, together describing a person with skillful 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
工工gōng
Sound part声符shēngfú
丂
丂kǎo巧qiǎo
Same sound today

巧 is made of 工 and 丂; 工 points to its meaning, and 丂 points to its sound.

Open 巧 →

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 →

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