sth written or painted in one's own hand / (of a writer, calligrapher or painter) skill / style / hand / (fig.) style shown in spending money, handling business etc / scale
hand / (formal) to hold / person engaged in certain types of work / person skilled in certain types of work / personal(ly) / convenient / classifier for skill / CL:雙|双[shuang1],隻|只[zhi1]
Mnemonic symbol: a baseball glove. Sherlock Holmes (sh) is trying out his new baseball glove (手) in the outhouse's living room (ou3).
pen / pencil / writing brush / to write or compose / the strokes of Chinese characters / classifier for sums of money, deals / CL:支[zhi1],枝[zhi1]
笔
=
⺮
+
毛
:
Brunhilde (bi) decided to try art for a change and constructs a brush (笔) in the space station (Ø3). She cuts off her long hair (毛) and attaches it to a bamboo stick (⺮) to make her brush (笔).