Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand) should be slightly narrower and compressed to give ample space for the right phonetic component (yóu).
1. Meaning
to draw out or pull out from in between
to remove part of the wholeof certain plants, to sprout or budto whip or thrash
VerbNeutral#action#movement#agriculture
Sample Usage
请抽出一张纸。
Qǐng chōu chū yī zhāng zhǐ.
Please pull out a sheet of paper.
抽烟有害健康。
Chōuyān yǒuhài jiànkāng.
Smoking is harmful to health.
2. Sound
/[t͡ʂʰoʊ̯˥˥]/Tone: 55
抽
chōuchou1
|
++
¯(55)
=chōu
Initial Consonant
ch
Type: Aspirated Retroflex
Sounds like: ch sound with retroflex tongue placement
AspiratedRetroflex
Airflow Tactile Test: Both curled tongue AND explosive puff of air! Tissue MUST fly.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near the hard palate, releasing a strong puff of air
Final Rhyme
ou
Vowel Group: -o vowel group
Sounds like: ou rhymes with oh
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oh'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T1 (55)
5 → 5 (55)
1st Tone (High-Flat)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 stays flat and high, like a steady musical note sung at the top of your vocal range.
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex aspirated 'ch' with the dental aspirated 'c' (which sounds like 'ts'). Remember that 'ch' requires curling the tongue back.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is a flat, high-pitched line; imagine holding your hand steady at eye level while making a sharp, crisp whipping sound.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand) should be slightly narrower and compressed to give ample space for the right phonetic component (yóu).
4. Components
Radical扌 · Hand Radical (hand, physical action)
Semantic Clue (形旁):扌 (indicates an action performed with the hand)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):由 (original sound: yóu)
A hand (扌) reaches in to pull something out from the container or cause (由).
扌 Hand action
由 Phonetic and structural cue
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
17· Phonetic Root: 由 (yóu)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) showing physical gripping and pulling, and (由) providing the phonetic reading and a sense of origin or extraction.
Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to pulling things out or drawing water from a well, later expanding to abstract extraction, smoking, and whipping.
The character bridges physical manual labor with modern verbs like 'to smoke' (抽烟, pulling smoke).
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
trừ /hút
Sino-Vietnamese readings link loosely, but modern Mandarin usage centers on physical extraction.
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: チュウ (chū) / Kun: ひく (hiku)
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Your hand (扌) reaches down to draw out (抽) a winning ticket from the ballot box, driven by pure curiosity (由).
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
油
yóuoilWater component (氵) instead of hand (扌) for liquid oil.
迪
díguideWalking enclosure component (辶) for guiding steps.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
油(yóu)
油 uses the water radical (氵) for liquids/oil, whereas 抽 uses the hand radical (扌) for actions.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
请帮我从文件堆里[___]出一份合同。
Clue: chōu
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the hand radical 扌 with the water radical 氵, leading to incorrect characters like 油.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does 抽 mean when paired with 烟 (yān) to form 抽烟?
Production: How do you write the verb meaning 'to draw out or pull out' using the hand radical?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
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抽chōuto draw out, pull out, or whip
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