Chinese

Noun

手甲

1. fingernail

Synonyms

Japanese

Etymology

Compound of 手 ‎(te, “hand”) +‎ 甲 ‎(kō, “shell; armor; back of the hand or foot”), with the medial -k- becoming geminate. Original reading tekō still persists as an alternate, albeit less common, pronunciation.^[1]

Pronunciation

• Yutōyomi
• てっこ​う (Nakadaka)^[2]
• IPA^(key): [te̞kːo̞ː], [te̞ko̞ː] (second reading is less common)

Noun

手甲 ‎(hiragana てっこう, romaji tekkō) (alternative reading hiragana てこう, romaji tekō)

1. (anatomy) the back of the hand
2. a piece of armor or clothing for protecting the back of the hand, such as a glove or gauntlet

Derived terms

• 手甲鉤 (てっこうかぎ, ​tekkō kagi)

Synonyms

• (anatomy): 手の甲 (てのこう, ​te no kō), 手の表面 (てのひょうめん, ​te no hyōmen)
• (gauntlet): 籠手, 篭手 (こて, ​kote)
• (glove): 手袋 (てぶくろ, ​tebukuro)

References

1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Okinawan

Etymology

Cognate with mainland Japanese 手甲 ‎(tekkō).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tikkoː/

Noun

手甲 ‎(hiragana てぃっこー, romaji tikkō)

1. back of the hand