# hand / arm



## Alijsh

In English "arm" is technically the part of the superior limb between the shoulder and the elbow but commonly used to refer to the whole superior limb. In Persian, *dast* (hand) is used to refer to the whole limb: arm + forearm + hand

How about it in your language? Which one do you use to refer to the whole limb? And please write me both "hand" and "arm" in your language. Thanks.

Persian: 
*bâzu* - arm
*dast* - hand


----------



## jonquiliser

Heh heh, for Swedish you already have them - hand and arm!  They are used as in English; arm being the whole thing sticking out from your torso, up to the hand. And hand is the last bit with a few fingers . 

In Finnish you can use both käsi and käsivarsi for arm; käsi is also the word for hand.


----------



## OldAvatar

Romanian:
* braţ* = the part between the elbow and the shoulder, the arm _(brats)_
*antebraţ *= the part between the elbow and the palm
*mână *= hand


----------



## Alijsh

Which one do you use to refer to the whole limb? *braţ* or *mână*? I guess *braţ*


----------



## OldAvatar

*antebraţ* + *braţ + palmă *(palm) = *mână*

But in the spoken language, people use *braţ *for naming the whole member, even though that wouldn't be quite correct.


----------



## su123

Hello!

*Catalan:*

Braç: arm
Avantbraç: forearm
Mà: hand


*Castilian:*

Brazo: arm
Antebrazo: forearm
Mano: hand

su123


----------



## OldAvatar

Do you pronounce  *Braç *in Catalan as _bras_, _bratch _or _bras_? I know there are some words which are identical or very similar in both Catalan and Romanian, but I didn't know about this one.


----------



## Alijsh

OldAvatar said:


> *antebraţ* + *braţ + palmă *(palm) = *mână*


 
How interesting! That's exactly the same in Persian. *dast* means arm + forearm + hand. In English, as far as I know, "arm" just means arm + forearm.


----------



## su123

OldAvatar said:


> Do you pronounce *Braç *in Catalan as _bras_, _bratch _or _bras_? I know there are some words which are identical or very similar in both Catalan and Romanian, but I didn't know about this one.


We pronounce bras

sue123


----------



## awanzi

In Italian is:

arm: *braccio*
forearm: *avanbraccio*
hand: *mano

*And braccio+avanbraccio+mano= braccio.

(The only peculiarity is that the word "braccio" is male when singular but female when plural. We never say _mano_ meaning the whole _braccio._)


----------



## elroy

In standard Arabic, يد (_yad_) is "hand" and ذراع (_dhiraa`_) is "arm," and the latter is used to refer to the whole limb.

In Palestinian Arabic, we only have إيد (_iid_), which is used to refer to all three.


----------



## papillon

In Russian, the word рука (ruka)  is used to refer to the whole thing up to the shoulder. Other less common words can be used if we want to refer to a more specific part, for example: Кисть (kist') can be used for an arm (the part with fingers), but ruka would still be used in a normal speech.

Incidentally, it's the same deal with foot/leg: нога (noga) means both.


----------



## cherine

elroy said:


> In standard Arabic, يد (_yad_) is "hand" and ذراع (_dhiraa`_) is "arm," and the latter is used to refer to the whole limb.


There's also saa3id ساعد which is the part between the elbow and the hand.


> In Palestinian Arabic, we only have إيد (_iid_), which is used to refer to all three.


In Egypt, we use iid for hand and deraa3 دراع for the arm and forearm.


----------



## Outsider

In Portuguese:

hand: *mão*
between pulse and elbow: *braço*
forearm: *antebraço*
whole arm: *braço*


----------



## Lemminkäinen

In Norwegian, it's *hånd* (*hand* is the nynorsk form, and also possible in bokmål) and *arm*, used as in English.


----------



## Alijsh

This topic and its parallel foot or leg were of special interest to me. Thank you all for contribution. 

***


cherine said:


> There's also saa3id ساعد which is the part between the elbow and the hand.


We also have sâed ساعد for forearm in Persian but it's pronounced differently: _sâ.ed_. We don't have ع sound of Arabic in Persian.


----------



## Stéphane89

*In French:*

Hand = Main
Arm = Bras


----------



## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish*
hand: *el*
arm: *kol *_(not very commonly used to refer to the whole limb)_


----------



## deine

Lithuanian:

hand - plaštaka
arm - ranka (this is used more often)


----------



## panjabigator

Panjabi:

Hand:  /hathh/ ਹਥ
arm:  /baa.n/ ਬਾਂ


----------



## Eáránë

Hello,

In Dutch we use the same words only with a different pronunciation

hand = hand
arm = arm


----------



## spakh

Alijsh said:


> Persian:
> *bâzu* - arm
> *dast* - hand



There is *"pazı"* in Turkish coming from Persian *'bâzu'*, but its meaning has changed and now it means biceps. Also it can be used for arm.


----------



## Whodunit

jonquiliser said:


> Heh heh, for Swedish you already have them - hand and arm!  They are used as in English; arm being the whole thing sticking out from your torso, up to the hand. And hand is the last bit with a few fingers .


 
Same in German.


----------



## Chazzwozzer

spakh said:


> There is *"pazı**"* in Turkish coming from Persian *'bâzu'*, but its meaning has changed and now it means biceps. Also it can be used for arm.


Turkish "*pazu/bazu" *is a direct loan from Persian, while *"pazı"* is not. The word comes from Armenian* "pazug"*, which is also of Persian origin.


----------



## apmoy70

Greek:

Arm: (1) *«Μπράτσο»* [ˈbra.ʦ͡ɔ] (neut.), a boomerang word: Classical 3rd declension masc. noun *«βραχίων» brăkʰíōn**** (nom. sing.), *«βραχίονος» brăkʰíŏnŏs* (gen. sing.) > Lat. *bracchium* > Ven. *brazzo* > Byz. & MoGr *«μπράτσο»*.
(2) *«Βραχίονας»* [vraˈçi.ɔ.nas] (masc.) < Classical 3rd declension masc. noun *«βραχίων» brăkʰíōn*.
(1) is colloquialism, both (1) & (2) are used interchangeably. In MoGr is used to refer to the upper arm + forearm. 
In Classical Greek, «βραχίων» was the upper arm only, the forearm was described by the 3rd declension masc. noun *«πῆχυς» pêkʰŭs* (nom. sing.), *«πήχεος» pḗkʰĕŏs* (gen. sing.). In MoGr *«πήχυς»* [ˈpi.çis] (masc.) is still the forearm, but it's bookish & rarely used. 

Hand: *«Χέρι»* [ˈçe.ɾi] (neut.) < Byz.Gr. neut. diminutive *«χέρι(ο)ν» khéri(o)n*, a simplification of the "difficult" Classical 3rd declension fem. noun *«χείρ» kʰeí̯r* (nom. sing.), *«χειρός» kʰei̯rós* (gen. sing.) --> _hand, fist_ (PIE *ǵʰes-r- _hand_ cf Hitt. keššar, _hand_, Tocharian A/B shar (idem), Arm. ձեռք (dzerrk), _hand_, Alb. dorë, _hand_).

** *According to some philologists, originally the comparative of the adj. *«βραχύς» brăkʰús* --> _short_ (PIE *mr̥ǵʰú- _short_ cf Skt. मुहुः (muhuḥ), _again_ (adv.), Av. mərəzu- _short_, Proto-Germanic *murguz > Ger. murk, Eng. merry).


----------



## AndrasBP

Hungarian has two words that are used just like "hand" and "arm" in English:

*kéz* = hand
*kar* = arm


----------

