上手
Pronunciation: [d͡ʑo̞ːzɨ]
“上手” is a Japanese word. Its 16 meanings in English:
adjective
noun
- skill, dexterity
- flattery (from being told how skillful one is, even if one isn't)
- a person with the seventh dan in the games of shogi or go
- an overhand hold
- the upper hand in an overhand hold
- upstream, the upstream portion of a river
- upwind
- a skilled player of games, such as go or shogi
- uphill, the upper portion of a hill or other geographic feature
- the head of a table, the seat of honor
- stage left: the left-hand side of a stage when looking from the stage towards the audience
- the left-hand side of a drawstring on a fishing net
Etymology
/d͡ʑauzu/ → /d͡ʑɔːzu/ → /d͡ʑoːzu/ From Middle Chinese compound 上手 (dzyangᴴ syuw^X, “to have the upper hand → to gain mastery, to master something”, literally “top hand”). This reading is likely a later innovation in Japanese after the initial borrowing. This uses the goon of jō for the first character, and the kan'yōon of zu for the second character.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.