手艺 (shǒu yì) — craft, handicraft; workmanship, skill | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

手艺 (shǒu yì) is a person's hands-on craft skill — what an artisan can actually do. Compare 技艺 (more formal/literary, broader skill) and 功夫 (also 'skill/craft', but colloquial and double as kung fu).

noun

crafthandicraftworkmanshipskill

Measure word · 门

Examples

。
Tā yǒu yì mén hǎo shǒu yì.
She has a good craft.
手艺。
Zhè jiàn jiā jù de shǒu yì hěn jīng xì.
The craftsmanship of this furniture is very fine.
手艺，。
Tā xué le sān nián shǒu yì, yǐ jīng chū shī le.
He studied the craft for three years and has now finished his apprenticeship.

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.

The 手 and 艺 join hand and craft to mean skilled workmanship.

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.

艹乙艺

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎo

Sound part声符shēngfú

乙

乙yǐ艺yì

Same sound today

In 艺, the top 艹 points to plants, and the lower 乙 gives the sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Crafts & Handiwork

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