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得手 (dé shǒu) — (adjective) successful, having come off smoothly (of a plan or operation)

Definition

得手 (dé shǒu) modifies a plan or operation that has gone through successfully — narrower than 成功 ('succeed' in general) and 顺利 ('smooth'), which describe the process rather than the outcome.

adjective
successfulhaving come off smoothly (of a plan or operation)

Examples

  • 得手。
    Zhè shì yí cì dé shǒu de xíng dòng.
    This was a successful operation.
  • 得手。
    dé shǒu De jì huà ràng tā fēi cháng mǎn yì.
    The successful plan made him very satisfied.
  • 得手。
    dé shǒu De mǎi mai gěi gōng sī dài lái le lì rùn.
    The successful deal brought profit to the company.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

得déobtain
手shǒuhand

"得" (obtain) and "手" (hand) suggest getting a result smoothly, as if gaining a helpful hand.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.

Open 得 →

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 7-9Success & Failure

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