Suffix 手

As we have mentioned before that the semantic component 手 is a highly important part in the formation of Chinese characters. For the formation of compound words, 手 also plays an important role, because it can serve as a suffix to form compound words in the following ways:

1. An adjective and 手 form a compound word to mean a person that is good at a certain skill, for example, 高手 master, 新手 novice, 能手 expert, etc.

2. A noun and 手 form a compound word to mean a person who is engaged in a certain profession, for example, 水手 sailor,旗手 flamman,炮手 gunman, and so on.

3. A verb and 手 form a compound word to mean a person who is engaged in a certain profession or a doer of something, for example, 助手 assistant,打手 hired thugs,杀手 killer, etc.

Just check out the powerful hand in Chinese.

Chinese is so fun to learn. The more you learn, the more enchanted you will get. Learn more, think more and find out more!

One thought on “Suffix 手”

Comments are closed.