Why is “Handschuh” (glove) German for “hand-shoe”?

In this family word game, the target answer is Wollhandschuh — a wool glove. The second half of that word, Handschuh, is German’s everyday word for “glove,” and it’s built with startling literalness: Hand (hand) plus Schuh (shoe). German simply treats a glove as a shoe for your hand, the same logical move it makes elsewhere in the body-and-clothing vocabulary.

The pattern isn’t unique to gloves — compare Fingerhut (“thimble,” literally “finger hat”). It makes many German compounds guessable once you know the parts: add Wolle (wool) to the front and you get Wollhandschuh, a wool glove, the exact word the kids in this clip are trying (and failing) to spell out loud.