手品
てじな · tejina · JLPT N3 · noun
magic trick
🎩🐇 手品 = hand + goods: things done by hand, so sleight of hand
手 (te) means hand and 品 (shina, read jina here) means item or goods. A conjuring trick is handwork done with objects, which is why English calls it sleight of hand. The reading tejina comes from te + shina, with the sh softening to j.
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.
品 — three 口 (mouth) stacked
品 is an ideogram showing three 口 (mouths or openings) piled together. The repetition of 口 suggests many people, items, or voices, which gave rise to meanings like 'kinds,' 'goods,' 'rank,' and 'to taste/judge.' The triple stacking is a common Chinese device for indicating plurality or variety.