爬

pá
巴 + 爪
HSK 3.0Level 3

Definitions

pá (verb) to crawl; to climb
pá (verb) to get up; to sit up

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 爪 represents the meaning and 巴 represents the sound.

Semantic: 爪 Phonetic: 巴

About

爬 is a phono-semantic compound: the claw radical 爪 on the left indicates an action involving hands, claws, or fingernails, while 巴 on the right provides the sound. The character describes locomotion by grabbing, gripping, or pulling oneself along a surface, either crawling horizontally on all fours as infants, reptiles, and insects do, or climbing vertically up steep surfaces, trees, or mountains by gripping with the hands and feet to haul the body upward against gravity.

Example Sentences Hide

他喜欢爬山。

Tā xǐ huān pá shān.

He likes climbing mountains.

孩子们在草地上爬行。

Hái zi men zài cǎo dì shàng pá xíng.

The children are crawling on the grass.

早上我们一起去爬山。

Zǎo shàng wǒ men yì qǐ qù pá shān.

In the morning, we go climbing together.

爬楼梯可以锻炼身体。

Pá lóu tī kě yǐ duàn liàn shēn tǐ.

Climbing stairs can exercise the body.

因为下雨，我们不能爬山了。

Yīn wèi xià yǔ, wǒ men bù néng pá shān le.

Because it's raining, we can't climb the mountain anymore.

这只乌龟爬得很慢。

Zhè zhī wū guī pá de hěn màn.

This turtle crawls very slowly.

如果你爬得高，就能看到更远的风景。

Rú guǒ nǐ pá de gāo, jiù néng kàn dào gèng yuǎn de fēng jǐng.

If you climb high, you can see farther scenery.

尽管山路陡峭，他们还是坚持爬到了山顶。

Jǐn guǎn shān lù dǒu qiào, tā men hái shì jiān chí pá dào le shān dǐng.

Although the mountain path is steep, they still persisted in climbing to the summit.

Related Characters

Component: 巴

把 色 吧 巴 爸 肥 疤 芭 邑 靶 琶 笆 耙 粑

Component: 爪

抓 爪 笊 坕

Example Words

爬上 爬山 吃里爬外 摸爬滚打 攀爬 爬升 爬坡 爬山虎 爬格子 爬泳 爬墙 爬犁 爬虫 爬行 爬行类 连滚带爬