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手笔 (shǒu bǐ) — autograph; handwriting or painting by a famous person; literary skill; writing style; style or manner of handling affairs or spending money (often in 大手笔 'grand gesture')

Definition

Literally 'hand + brush': the personal writing, painting, or signature of a named hand — and by extension that person's literary skill or signature style. 大手笔 also means a bold, large-scale move.

noun
autographhandwriting or painting by a famous personliterary skillwriting stylestyle or manner of handling affairs or spending money (often in 大手笔 'grand gesture')

Examples

  • 手笔，。
    Zhè fú huà shì qí bái shí de shǒu bǐ, jià zhí lián chéng.
    This painting is a Qi Baishi original — priceless.
  • 手笔，。
    Tā de wén zhāng shǒu bǐ bù fán, dú qǐ lái hěn yǒu wèi dào.
    His writing style is extraordinary; it's a pleasure to read.
  • ，。
    Zhè cì tóu zī zhēn shì dà shǒu bǐ, yí xià zi tóu le wǔ gè yì.
    This investment is really a big move — five hundred million at once.

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
笔bǐwriting brush

The 手 of the hand and 笔 of the brush point to handwriting or brushwork.

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 筆; 笔 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
竹竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
聿
聿yù筆bǐ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The simplified 笔 is based on the traditional form 筆, which puts 竹 (bamboo) beside 聿 (writing brush). 聿 already meant the brush and supplied the sound; 竹 was added later to show it was made of bamboo.

Open 笔 →
Appears in
Literature & Poetry

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