舵手 (duò shǒu) — (nautical) helmsman, steersman; (figurative) leader, guide, person who gives direction

Definition

Literally 'rudder-hand': a helmsman who steers a ship, used figuratively for the person guiding an organization or team through change. Concrete nautical sense; the figurative 'leader' sense is the more common one in modern usage.

noun
(nautical) helmsmansteersman(figurative) leaderguideperson who gives direction
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 舵手。
    Lǎo chuán zhǎng shì yí wèi jīng yàn fēng fù de duò shǒu.
    The old captain is an experienced helmsman.
  • 舵手。
    Rén mín bǎ zhè wèi lǐng xiù shì wéi guó jiā de duò shǒu.
    The people regard this leader as the helmsman of the nation.
  • ，舵手。
    Zài gōng sī zhuǎn xíng qī, tā chōng dāng le tuán duì de duò shǒu.
    During the company's transformation, he acted as the team's helmsman.

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.

舵duòrudder
手shǒuhand

舵 is the rudder and 手 is a person's hand, giving someone who steers a vessel.

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
舟舟zhōuboat
Sound part声符shēngfú
它
它tā舵duò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

舵 pairs 舟, a boat, with 它, which gives the sound.

Open 舵 →

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.

Open 手 →

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