拍手 (pāi shǒu) — to clap one's hands; to applaud | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A verb-object phrase meaning 'to clap one's hands' — used for applause, celebration, or rhythmic clapping (拍手歌), not for striking another person. Often reduplicates or takes 一下 as a quick bounded action.

verb

to clap one's handsto applaud

Examples

拍手。
Dà jiā wèi tā de jīng cǎi yǎn chū pāi shǒu.
Everyone applauded his wonderful performance.
。
Tā gāo xìng dé pāi qǐ shǒu lái.
He was so happy that he started clapping.
，。
Lǎo shī jiǎng wán gù shi hòu, hái zi men pāi le liǎng xià shǒu.
After the teacher finished the story, the children clapped twice.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

拍 “clap” and 手 “hand” describe the action of clapping hands.

Characters in this word

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

手手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

白

白bái拍pāi

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

拍 puts 手 (hand) beside 白, which gives the pronunciation.

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.

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