Chinese symbol for “hand”
手
shǒu
hand; (formal) to hold; person engaged in certain types of work; person skilled in certain types of work
The closest CC-CEDICT match for hand is 手 (shǒu), defined as: hand; (formal) to hold; person engaged in certain types of work; person skilled in certain types of work; personal(ly); convenient.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “hand”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 牌型 | pái xíng | hand (in mahjong or card games) |
| 手笔 (手筆) | shǒu bǐ | sth written or painted in one's own hand; (of a writer, calligrapher or painter) skill |
| 小胖爪 | xiǎo pàng zhuǎ | (coll.) hand |
| 呈给 (呈給) | chéng gěi | to give; to hand |
| 手用 | shǒu yòng | hand-used; hand (tool) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 手.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 手机 (手機) | shǒu jī | cell phone; mobile phone; measure word: 部 (bù), 台 (tái) |
| 手段 | shǒu duàn | method; way; means (of doing sth); skill; ability |
| 选手 (選手) | xuǎn shǒu | athlete; contestant |
| 手术 (手術) | shǒu shù | (surgical) operation; surgery |
| 对手 (對手) | duì shǒu | opponent; rival |
| 歌手 | gē shǒu | singer |
See also: Japanese symbol for “hand”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.