Where does “お手上げ” come from?

お手上げ (Japanese) comes from Japanese 御, from Middle Chinese 御.

お手上げ (Japanese): throwing up one's hands: giving up, quitting

Definitions

  1. throwing up one's hands: giving up, quitting

Ancestry of “お手上げ”, step by step

お手上げ traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 御

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese御"indicates that the is honorific"; often used to...
2Middle Chinese御—

via Japanese 手

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese手a hand; a handle, grip; a paw, foreleg
2Middle Chinese手—

via Japanese 上げ

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese上げraising, lifting up
2Japanese上げるto raise, to lift; to give; to utter; to cry; to...
Every word from Middle Chinese 御 →Every word from Japanese 御 →