About
The character "抽" is structurally composed of the hand radical (扌) on the left, indicating an action performed by the hand, combined with the right-side component "由", which primarily serves a phonetic function but may also subtly suggest a passage or a source. Its earliest core meanings revolved around the physical action of pulling out or drawing forth, such as extracting something from a sheath or drawing a blade. This concrete sense naturally extended to more abstract applications, including the idea of taking a portion from a whole, as in抽样 (sampling), or the act of withdrawing, as in 抽身 (to extricate oneself). Over centuries, its semantic field further broadened to encompass the drawing of lots, the act of sucking in or absorbing, leading to its common verb for smoking (抽烟), and even developed into a descriptive term for involuntary muscular contractions (抽搐). The character's conceptual journey from a specific manual action to a versatile word covering both concrete extraction and various figurative or physiological processes demonstrates a logical and practical expansion of its application in the language.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
他抽到了一张好牌。
我每天抽点时间看书。
他习惯饭后抽一支烟。
工厂从河里抽水灌溉农田。
医生要抽血进行化验。
这种布料一洗就容易抽缩。
她被随机抽中进行问卷调查。
政府决定对这批产品抽样检查。