手机
shoǔ jī · HSK 1
cell phone
📱 手机 = hand + machine — the machine you hold in your hand
手 (shǒu) means hand and 机 (jī) means machine or device. Together 手机 literally reads hand-machine, the standard Mandarin word for a mobile or cell phone you carry around.
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.
shǒu jī · HSK 2
mobile phone
📱 手 (hand) + 机 (machine) = hand-machine, a device held in the hand
手 means hand and 机 means machine or device. A 手机 is literally a hand-machine — the compound name Chinese uses for a mobile phone, distinct from 电话 (electric-speech) for a landline.
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.