双手
shuāngshǒu · HSK 5
hands
🙌 双手 = pair/double (双) + hand (手)
双 means 'pair' or 'double' and 手 means 'hand', so 双手 literally reads as 'both hands'. The 'lily-white' sense is an extended poetic usage describing fair, delicate hands.
双 — two 又 (right hands) side by side
Originally written 雙 with two 隹 (short-tailed birds) over 又 (hand), depicting a pair of birds held in one hand, hence 'pair' or 'two'. The modern simplified form 双 keeps just two 又 hands side by side as a visual shorthand for 'a pair'. Meaning broadened to 'double' or 'even-numbered'.
手 — pictograph of a hand with five fingers
手 is a pictograph showing an open hand with fingers and a wrist. Early bronze and oracle bone forms clearly depict five splayed fingers, which simplified over time into the modern shape. It keeps its original meaning of 'hand' and also serves as a radical in many characters related to hand actions.