A Complete Guide to Chinese Number Hand Gestures
If
you've been in China long enough, you've probably noticed that special
hand gestures are used to express the numbers from one to ten.
Why is that? China has many different dialects
and sometimes it can be confusing for people from different regions to
understand one another. Furthermore, a lot of words sound very similar
in Chinese. For example the word for the number four, si, sounds very
similar to ten, shi. Therefore, using hand signs can be very useful to
clear up confusion when bargaining or doing business.
So let's
take a look at what these simple gestures are and how to form them.
We've provided the characters and pinyin prononciations of each number
as well.
1. One (一, 'yī')
Extend your index finger.
2. Two (二, 'èr' or 两, 'liǎng')
Extend both your index finger and middle finger.
3. Three (三, 'sān')
Extend your index finger, middle finger and ring finger.
4. Four (四, 'sì')
Extend your all four of your fingers (index, middle, ring and pinky).
5. Five (五, 'wǔ')
Extend all of your fingers plus your thumb.
6. Six (六, 'liù')
Make
a "hang loose" sign: extend your pinky to one side and your thumb in
the opposite direction. Fold your index, middle and ring fingers down
against your palm.
7. Seven (七, 'qī')
All
fingertips touch, or just the tips of the index finger, middle finger
and thumb. Malaysian and/or Singaporean Chinese might interpret this as
the number five. Locals of Guangdong and Hong Kong will interpret this
as the number eight. This is the most common way. However, there is an
alternative way where the thumb is extended, and the index and middle
finger are also extended.
8. Eight (八, 'bā')
Point
and extend your index finger in the air, and also extend your thumb, so
that you make an "L" shape. Some people from other regions (Malaysian
or Singaporean Chinese or people from Taiwan, Guangdong or Hong Kong)
might interpret this as the number seven.
9. Nine (九, 'jiǔ')
Curl your index finger. Other fingers can be closed like a fist.
10. Ten (十, 'shí')
Make a fist. (Though this can also be interpreted as "zero").
An alternative way is to take both index fingers of each hand and then cross them like the character for ten: "十”:
So there you have it! Keep these in mind as they might come in handy next time you go to the supermarket.
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