抽

chōu

扌 + 由

HSK 3.0Level 5

Definitions

chōu (verb) to draw out; to pull out

chōu (verb) to sprout; to bud

chōu (verb) to whip; to thrash

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 由 represents the sound.

Semantic: 扌 Phonetic: 由

About

抽 is a phonosemantic compound, combining the hand radical 扌, which points to an action performed with the hands, and the phonetic 由, which gives the sound. Its original meaning centers on physically drawing out or pulling forth something: extracting a thread from a cocoon, or pulling a weapon from its sheath. Over time, the sense broadened into abstract domains of extraction and drawing, drawing a lottery ticket, shrinking, or taking a portion from a larger whole. The character's structure has been uniform throughout its history, with no separate traditional form needed.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

他抽到了一张好牌。

Tā chōu dào le yī zhāng hǎo pái.

He drew a good card.

我每天抽点时间看书。

Wǒ měi tiān chōu diǎn shíjiān kàn shū.

I set aside some time to read every day.

他习惯饭后抽一支烟。

Tā xíguàn fàn hòu chōu yī zhī yān.

He is in the habit of smoking a cigarette after a meal.

工厂从河里抽水灌溉农田。

Gōngchǎng cóng hé lǐ chōu shuǐ guàngài nóngtián.

The factory pumps water from the river to irrigate the farmland.

医生要抽血进行化验。

Yīshēng yào chōu xiě jìnxíng huàyàn.

The doctor needs to draw blood for testing.

这种布料一洗就容易抽缩。

Zhè zhǒng bùliào yī xǐ jiù róngyì chōusuō.

This kind of fabric shrinks easily when washed.

她被随机抽中进行问卷调查。

Tā bèi suíjī chōu zhòng jìnxíng wènjuàn diàochá.

She was randomly selected to participate in the questionnaire survey.

政府决定对这批产品抽样检查。

Zhèngfǔ juédìng duì zhè pī chǎnpǐn chōuyàng jiǎnchá.

The government decided to conduct a sampling inspection on this batch of products.

Related Characters

Component: 扌

Component: 由

抽