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上手

Mandarin · pinyin shàng shǒu

to obtain
to master
overhand (serve etc)
seat of honor

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Characters in this entry

上: shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
手: shǒu · hand

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3 · shang4 shou3

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2character links1same-tone record

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

soeng5 sau2

Cantonese word readings for 上手. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 上首 (shàngshǒu, “honored one; seat of honor”)
predecessor; one's superior
(card games) player whose turn comes next
expert
(philosophy) ready-to-hand
(Cantonese) previous owner of real estate

verb

to start; to begin
to get in one's hand; to get (fish, etc.) on the hook

adv

(colloquial) at the outset

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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