挥手 (huī shǒu) — to wave (one's hand) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A verb-object phrase meaning to wave (one's hand) — can also be used as a separable verb (挥一下手, 挥了挥手).

verb

to wave (one's hand)

挥手。
Tā zhàn zài mén kǒu xiàng wǒ huī shǒu gào bié.
He stood at the door and waved goodbye to me.
，。
Tā kàn jiàn wǒ, gāo xìng dì huī le huī shǒu.
When she saw me, she happily waved her hand.
，。
Nǐ zhǐ yào huī yí xià shǒu, tā men jiù huì guò lái.
You just need to wave once, and they'll come over.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

挥 means wave and 手 means hand, so it is waving the hand.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 揮; 挥 is its simplified writing.

扌軍揮

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

軍

軍jūn揮huī

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

The traditional form 揮 pairs 扌 (hand) with 軍 as a sound part; the simplified 挥 is a shorthand, so its right side is not the historical component.

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.

Appears in