手绢 (shǒu juàn) — handkerchief | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

handkerchief

Measure word · 张

手绢。
Tā tāo chū yì zhāng shǒu juàn cā le cā é tóu shàng de hàn.
He took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
手绢。
Xiǎo gū niang zài yí kuài shǒu juàn shàng xiù le yì duǒ xiǎo huā.
The little girl embroidered a small flower on a handkerchief.
手绢。
Zhè tiáo shǒu juàn shì nǎi nai gěi wǒ de shēng rì lǐ wù.
This handkerchief is a birthday gift from my grandmother.

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 points to the hand and 绢 to silk or cloth, together naming a handkerchief.

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.

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 絹; 绢 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

糸糸mìthread

Sound part声符shēngfú

肙

肙yuān絹juàn

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

The traditional form 絹 has 糸 (thread/silk) on the left and 肙 on the right for the sound; the simplified 绢 is a later shorthand.

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