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Heres the sentence :

> 彼は自由なほうの手を伸ばして頭皮をさわり、痛みの源を突き止めようとした。

So I understand the sentence, I think, by context, as : "He reached up with
his free arm and touched his scalp, trying to determine the origin of his
headache."

But i can't find a good definition or explanation for this "ほう", which kanji
is this related ? what's the meaning here ?

Thanks in advance.
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2018-10-17T21:53:14.910
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2018-10-20T14:15:05.887
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meaning
Question about "ほう" in this context
The kanji that's it's representing is the standard 方. It is used in the
standard way of making a comparison between two objects. Here the comparison
is between the two hands of the person. As for what comparison it's making,
the answer is that it's comparing the 自由-ness of the two hands. So here
自由なほうの手 means the hand that is more 自由.

Edit: As [Chocolate](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/users/9831/chocolate)
points out, 方 when used here isn't actually making a comparison between the
**level** of 自由, but the **existence** of 自由 or not.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-18T00:24:59.263
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2018-10-20T14:15:05.887
2018-10-20T14:15:05.887
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answer