推

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *tʰuːl, *tʰjul): semantic 扌 (“hand”) + phonetic 隹 (OC *tjul) – push with the hand.

Middle Chinese distinguishes 推 (MC thwoj, “to push”) and 推 (MC tsrhwij, “to proceed; to promote; to deduce”).

Older Mandarin dictionaries give chuī (the Mandarin reflex of 推 (MC tsrhwij)) as a variant reading for all senses, while Cantonese dictionaries only assign ceoi1 to the "to deduce" sense (e.g. in 推測 (“to surmise”)). Most modern Sinitic varieties use the reflexes of 推 (MC thwoj) for all meanings, while Sino-Xenic use the reflexes of 推 (MC tsrhwij) (in Korean, however, the reflex of 推 (MC thwoj) is also used in a few words). Some varieties (including certain Hakka, Min, and sometimes Yue dialects) preserve both readings, but not necessarily disambiguate them by meaning.

Outside of Sinitic, Schuessler (2007) adduces Chepang दुस् (“to push away, shove”) as a cognate. Note also similarities to Burmese တိုး (tui:, “to push, shove, advance”).

See also 揣 (MC tsrhjweX|twaX).

; “to support”; “oshi”