Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character for 'hand' (手, shǒu) is one of the oldest and most stable pictograms in Chinese script. Its earliest oracle bone script form from the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) was a clear pictograph of a hand with five fingers. Over centuries, through the bronze script and seal script periods, the depiction became increasingly stylized and abstract, simplifying into the modern three-stroke form. Despite this simplification, it has consistently retained its core meaning of 'hand' and serves as a radical in hundreds of characters related to manual actions, such as 打 (to hit), 持 (to hold), and 推 (to push). Arrived in Japan: The character 手, along with the Chinese writing system, was introduced to Japan around the 5th century CE, likely via the Korean Peninsula. It was formally adopted into the Japanese writing system during the Nara period (710–794 CE) and is read as 'te' or 'shu'.