手里
shoǔ lǐ · HSK 4
in hand
✋ 手 (hand) + 里 (inside) = inside the hand
Literal compound: 手 means hand and 里 means inside or within. Together they say 'inside the hand', which extends figuratively to 'under someone's control' — a situation that rests in their hands.
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.
里 — 田 (field) + 土 (earth)
Originally a pictograph combining 田 (field) and 土 (earth), depicting cultivated land where people lived. It came to mean 'village' or 'hometown,' and by extension a unit of distance (about 500 meters). The 'inside' meaning is borrowed; that sense was traditionally written 裏 or 裡.