Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (手) should be compact and narrower, leaving ample space for the right phonetic component (台) to shine without crowding.
1. Meaning
to lift, to raise, to carry together
to elevate (status or price)to argue back and forth (as in 抬杠)
VerbNeutral#physical action#movement
Sample Usage
请把桌子抬起来。
Qǐng bǎ zhuōzi tái qǐ lái.
Please lift the table up.
抬头看天。
Tái tóu kàn tiān.
Raise your head to look at the sky.
2. Sound
/[tʰaɪ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35
抬
táitai2
|
++
´(35)
=tái
Initial Consonant
t
Type: Aspirated Alveolar
Sounds like: t sound as in 'top'
Aspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Explosive puff of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST flutter.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the upper teeth ridge for the plosive release.
Final Rhyme
ai
Vowel Group: -a vowel group
Sounds like: -ai rhymes with 'eye' or 'high'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'eye'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T2 (35)
3 → 5 (35)
2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts mid and rises high, exactly like the inflection used when saying 'What?' in disbelief.
Sandhi: When followed by a fourth-tone syllable, it shifts to a high rising tone before dropping sharply, but the base citation is a pure rising tone.
👂
Listening trap: Do not confuse it with Tone 4 (tài), which drops sharply; Tone 2 (tái) climbs up inquiringly.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Make a rising hand gesture moving upward from chest level to eye level, mirroring the pitch going up.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (手) should be compact and narrower, leaving ample space for the right phonetic component (台) to shine without crowding.
4. Components
Radical手 · Hand Radical (Hand, physical action)
Semantic Clue (形旁):扌 (Indicates that the action is performed using the hands (lifting or carrying).)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):台 (original sound: tái)
Combining the Hand radical (扌) on the left with the phonetic and base platform component (台) on the right creates the picture of using your hands to raise something up.
扌 Hand action
台 Platform / Phonetic clue for tái
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
23· Phonetic Root: 台 (tái)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Created as a phono-semantic compound where the left component (扌) supplies the meaning of hand movement and the right component (台) provides the sound and a sense of elevating or supporting.
Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting the physical act of lifting an object with hands, it expanded to figurative lifting such as raising prices, lifting someone's status, or carrying things together with another person.
The component 台 originally depicted a high terrace or platform, lending an inherent semantic nuance of elevation to characters it builds.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
đài
Mandarin rising tone 2 corresponds roughly to Vietnamese rising tone (thanh sắc/hỏi depending on register, here corresponding to an equivalent high rising elevation).
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ダイ / タイ
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
태
Sound Shift Bridge: The initial t- and final -ai sound map reliably across East Asian borrowings and phonetic loans.
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
You use your **hand** (扌) to lift a heavy **stage or platform** (台) straight up into the air.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
治
zhìto govern / to cureWater component (氵) instead of hand, meaning managing water or treatment.
始
shǐbeginningWoman component (女) instead of hand, representing birth or beginning.
胎
tāifetus / wombFlesh component (月) instead of hand, referring to bodily development.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
治(zhì)
治 uses the water radical (氵) for governing/treating water, whereas 抬 uses the hand radical (扌) for physical lifting.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
请帮我把这个箱子[___]起来。
Clue: tái
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the hand radical (扌) with the water radical (氵) or mixing up the tone with the fourth tone (tài).
Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see 抬 with the hand radical and phonetic 台, what does it mean and how is it pronounced?
Production: How do you write and pronounce the verb meaning 'to lift or carry together' (tái)?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
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抬táito lift
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