掌上明珠 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• lit. a pearl in the palm
• fig. beloved person (esp. daughter)

Character by character

• 掌zhǎngin charge; the palm of the hand, the sole of the f
• 上shàngabove, on top, superior; to go up; to attend; prev
• 明míngbright, clear; to explain, to understand, to shed
• 珠zhūgem, jewel, pearl, precious stone

Idioms sharing a character

• 了如指掌 liǎo rú zhǐ zhǎng
• 掌声雷动 zhǎng shēng léi dòng
• 摩拳擦掌 mó quán cā zhǎng
• 易如反掌 yì rú fǎn zhǎng
• 上下其手 shàng xià qí shǒu
• 上天入地 shàng tiān rù dì
• 上当受骗 shàng dàng shòu piàn
• 上行下效 shàng xíng xià xiào
• 力争上游 lì zhēng shàng yóu
• 巴高望上 bā gāo wàng shàng

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.