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手术 (shǒu shù) — (noun) surgery; surgical operation; (verb) to perform surgery; to operate

Definition

手术 is specifically a medical operation (surgery), as in the doctor operates on the patient. Distinguish from 外科, the medical department/specialty itself, and from 运营 or 运算, which are unrelated 'operate' senses for businesses or computing.

noun
surgerysurgical operation
verb
to perform surgeryto operate
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 手术。
    shǒu shù Hěn chéng gōng.
    The surgery was very successful.
  • 手术。
    Yī shēng gěi bìng rén zuò le sān gè xiǎo shí de shǒu shù.
    The doctor performed three hours of surgery on the patient.
  • 手术。
    Tā xū yào zài zuò yí cì shǒu shù.
    He needs to have another surgery.

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.

手shǒuhand
术shùtechnique

The idea of 手 paired with 术 gives a hand technique, i.e. surgery.

Characters in this word

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 術; 术 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíngstreet, path
Sound part声符shēngfú
朮
朮zhú術shù
Same sound today

The traditional form 術 has 行 (street, path) beside 朮, which gives the sound; the simplified 术 is a later shorthand.

Open 术 →
Appears in
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