掏

搯
tāo
匋 + 扌
HSK 2.0Level 6
HSK 3.0Level 6

Definitions

tāo (verb) to fish out; to take out (from pocket); to scoop

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 匋 represents the sound. Simplified form of 搯.

Semantic: 扌 Phonetic: 匋

About

掏, the simplified form of 搯, is a phono-semantic compound. The left radical 扌 (hand) marks it as a verb involving manual action, while the right component 匋 (táo) indicates its pronunciation without contributing to the meaning. Together, they express the specific motion of reaching into a confined space, a pocket, bag, or hole, and retrieving something, as in fishing out, extracting, or scooping out with the fingers.

Example Sentences Hide

他掏出了钱包。

Tā tāo chū le qiánbāo.

He took out his wallet.

我掏钱买了这本书。

Wǒ tāo qián mǎi le zhè běn shū.

I paid for this book.

妈妈从包里掏出一把钥匙。

Māmā cóng bāo lǐ tāo chū yī bǎ yàoshi.

Mom took out a key from her bag.

他小心翼翼地掏出了那张旧照片。

Tā xiǎoxīn yìyì de tāo chū le nà zhāng jiù zhàopiàn.

He carefully took out that old photo.

警察让嫌疑人掏出口袋里的东西。

Jǐngchá ràng xiányírén tāo chū kǒudài lǐ de dōngxi.

The police asked the suspect to take out the things in his pocket.

为了找到丢失的戒指，她掏遍了整个抽屉。

Wèile zhǎodào diūshī de jièzhi, tā tāo biàn le zhěnggè chōutì.

In order to find the lost ring, she searched through the entire drawer.

记者试图从知情人口中掏出更多信息。

Jìzhě shìtú cóng zhīqíngrén kǒu zhōng tāo chū gèng duō xìnxī.

The journalist tried to dig out more information from the informant.

在清理池塘时，工人们掏出了大量淤泥。

Zài qīnglǐ chítáng shí, gōngrénmen tāo chū le dàliàng yūní.

While cleaning the pond, the workers scooped out a large amount of sludge.

Related Characters

Component: 匋

陶 萄 淘 啕 绹 醄 騊 綯

Component: 扌

把 提 打 报 接 指 据 拉 持 技 找 推 投 护

Example Words

掏出 掏空 掏包 掏腰包 掏钱 自掏腰包