拿手
ná shoǔ · HSK 7
expert in
🖐️ 拿 take + 手 hand = something you can take in hand = good at it
ná shoǔ pairs 拿 (to take, grasp) with 手 (hand). A skill you can take in your own hand is one you have mastered, so 拿手 means expert at or good at something.
拿 — hand 手 + combine 合
拿 is a semantic compound: 合 (combine, bring together) sits over 手 (hand), giving the idea of hands joining to grasp something. It is a relatively late character that replaced the older 拏 in the meaning 'to take, hold, or seize.' Today it broadly means to take or hold in the hand.
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.