Hand Radical (扌) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
扌 is the hand radical. It appears in 131 of the most common Chinese characters — these 12 are the ones worth learning first, and the worksheet below gives every one of them a pinyin header, a stroke-by-stroke model and blank Tianzige grids to copy into.
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What does 扌 mean?
Hand radical · 手 shǒu · 4 strokes · hand
As a radical it is called 提手旁 (tí shǒu páng).
It usually appears on the left (扌), or at the bottom (手). The Origin column below shows what each character's parts do — many take their meaning from the radical, some take their sound from the other half.
手 itself: A hand with the fingers splayed
12 common characters with 扌
Ranked by how often they appear in real written Chinese. Every character links to its own page with a stroke-order animation and example words.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 我 | wǒ | I, me | A hand 扌 holding a weapon 戈 |
| 看 | kàn | look, view; look after | Shielding one's eyes 目 with a hand 手 to look to the distance |
| 把 | bǎ | [ba-structure preposing the object] | 巴 supplies the sound |
| 打 | dǎ | beat, hit, strike; play; typewrite | 丁 supplies the sound |
| 才 | cái | just | A sprout growing in the ground, representing a budding talent |
| 提 | tí | carry; put forward, raise; mention, ask; lift; promote | 是 supplies the sound |
| 接 | jiē | put together, join; receive, answer (call, letter, etc.); meet, pick up (somebody); extend, connect; catch (a ball, etc.) | 妾 supplies the sound |
| 报 | bào | newspaper | A hand 扌 cuffing 又 a criminal 卩, representing sentencing |
| 指 | zhǐ | mean, refer to; point to | To point 旨 by hand 扌; 旨 also provides the pronunciation |
| 持 | chí | hold, maintain | 寺 supplies the sound |
| 找 | zhǎo | look for | To go searching with a spear 戈 in hand 扌 |
| 据 | jù | according to | 居 supplies the sound |
Related Radicals
- 忄Heart radical · xīn77 common characters · heart, mind
- 戈Dagger-axe radical · gē13 common characters · a dagger-axe (ancient weapon)
- 户Door radical · hù11 common characters · a single door; a household
- 攵Tap radical · pū23 common characters · a tap; to strike — often marks an action
- 斤Axe radical · jīn10 common characters · an axe
- 方Square radical · fāng13 common characters · square; direction
Create Your Own Chinese Worksheet
The download above is fixed; the generator is not. Turn any character list, sentence or textbook section into a printable worksheet — grid style, paper size and header are yours to pick.