Chinese character for hand: 手 (shǒu)
The Chinese character for hand is 手 (shǒu). It means hand and appears in 手机 (shǒujī, mobile phone, literally 'hand machine') and 握手 (wòshǒu, to shake hands). It is also used for skilled people, as in 歌手 (singer).
How 手 is built
手 is a pictograph of a hand with the fingers spread: the strokes across are the fingers and the long hooked stroke is the arm or wrist. As a part of other characters it usually becomes 扌 on the left, as in 打 (to hit), 拿 (to take) and 找 (to look for), marking actions done by hand. 手 is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese.
手 shǒu · hand
手 is not built from smaller parts; it is written with 4 strokes.
Origin hint: A hand with the fingers splayed (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 手 is used
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 手 is identical in both scripts; 手牵手 (hand in hand) is a sweeter phrase for couples.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for hand?
手 (shǒu) means “hand”.
How do you pronounce 手?
手 is pronounced shǒu.