ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

pair; double

shuāng
4 strokes · 又 + 又 — two right hands side by side · HSK 2

Where 双 comes from

The traditional 雙 held two birds 雔 in one hand 又; simplification kept just the pair of hands. Two of the same thing, working together: 双 is the character form of symmetry.

双 in Chinese culture

双 is auspicious arithmetic: 好事成双 'good things come in pairs' governs gift-giving (never give one of anything), and 双喜 the doubled-happiness character 囍 is pasted at every wedding. Singles' Day (11.11) was named 光棍节 precisely for its four lonely 1s — the anti-双.

Example

一双 yì shuāng — a pair

我买了一双新鞋。
Wǒ mǎi le yì shuāng xīn xié.
I bought a new pair of shoes.

How to remember it

Two hands 又又 raised together — a PAIR.

双十一 'Double Eleven' turned the loneliest date into Earth's biggest shopping day — hundreds of billions of yuan in 24 hours.

Same sound, different tones

1st shuāng
pair
3rd shuǎng
refreshing

Words unlocked by 双

一双鞋 yì shuāng xié
a pair of shoes
双方 shuāngfāng
both sides
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