About
The character 拾, meaning to pick up or gather, is structurally composed of the hand radical 扌 paired with the phonetic component 合, reflecting its action-oriented origin linked to manual collection. Its etymological foundation lies in this phono-semantic construction, where the hand radical explicitly denotes activities performed with the hand, while 合 historically provided a sound approximation. Over centuries, the character has maintained its primary sense of collecting items from a surface, but it also developed secondary meanings such as organizing or tidying up, as seen in compound words like 收拾. Additionally, 拾 acquired a distinct function as a formal numeral for ten in financial documents, a usage derived from its phonetic similarity to 十 and employed to prevent fraudulent alterations, thus expanding its semantic range without altering its graphical form.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
我拾起一支笔。
他在路上拾到钱。
妈妈收拾房间。
我拾了很多贝壳。
小朋友拾起掉落的玩具。
为了环保，我拾起垃圾。
他拾起书包，然后回家。
如果你拾到贵重物品，应该交给警察。