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手下

Mandarin · pinyin shǒu xià

under one's control or administration
subordinates
(money etc) on hand
sb's financial means
when taking action

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Characters in this entry

手: shǒu · hand
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4 · shou3 xia4

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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

sau2 haa6

Cantonese word readings for 手下. 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

under the leadership of; under the direction of; subordinate to
subordinate; underling
right beside one; on hand; at hand
personal financial situation; finances
when taking action; when going about something

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

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