手肘 (shǒu zhǒu) — elbow | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

elbow

Measure word · 只

手肘。
Tā de shǒu zhǒu bù xiǎo xīn zhuàng dào le mén.
He accidentally knocked his elbow against the door.
手肘。
Yī shēng ràng wǒ shēn zhí shǒu zhǒu.
The doctor told me to straighten my elbow.
手肘。
Dǎ lán qiú shí tā shuāi shāng le shǒu zhǒu.
He hurt his elbow falling while playing basketball.

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 “hand/arm” locating 肘 “elbow” names the elbow joint.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

寸

寸cùn肘zhǒu

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

The old form of 肘 drew a hand with a line marking the elbow. Because it looked like 寸, 肉 was added to tell the two shapes apart.

Appears in