捎 (shāo) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

捎

shāo[shao1]Tone 1

to bring sth to sb

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · to bring sth to sb

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (扌) should be narrower and slightly raised, leaving ample space for the right phonetic component (肖) to maintain balanced symmetry.

1. Meaning

to bring or deliver something to someone while on the way

to take alongto brush pastto snatch

VerbNeutral#actions#delivery#transportation

Sample Usage

顺便帮我捎个信。
Shùnbiàn bāng wǒ shāo gè xìn.
Please help me deliver a message along the way.
下班时顺便给我捎点菜。
Xiàbān shí shùnbiàn gěi wǒ shāo diǎn cài.
Bring me back some groceries on your way off work.

2. Sound

/[ʂɑʊ̯⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

捎

shāoshao1

¯(55)

=shāo

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

shao

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Retroflex Fricative

Sounds like: sh (retroflex sound)

UnaspiratedRetroflex

Airflow Tactile Test: Hollow wind sound through curled tongue channel.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near hard palate

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ao rhymes with cow or show (ou)

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ow'.

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 is a high, flat pitch, matching a steady high note in speech intonation.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex initial 'sh-' with the alveolar 's-', or confusing tone 1 with rising tone 2.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is high and steady, like a sustained musical note at the top of your vocal range. Make a flat, high horizontal hand gesture.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (扌) should be narrower and slightly raised, leaving ample space for the right phonetic component (肖) to maintain balanced symmetry.

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand Radical (Hand actions, touching, or manipulation)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (Indicates an action performed with the hand (bringing, carrying, delivering))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 肖 (original sound: xiāo / shāo)

A hand (扌) reaches out to grab and carry away a small likeness or item (肖) for someone else along the way.

扌 Hand action
肖 Phonetic and likeness clue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

23· Phonetic Root: 肖 (xiào)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) for manual delivery and 肖 (xiāo) providing the sound and the ancient sense of smallness or passing along.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referring to taking or carrying something lightly with the hand, it broadened to mean delivering items on one's way or casually bringing something for someone.

Often used in modern Mandarin in the compound expression '顺便' (shùnbiàn - conveniently / along the way).

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

khiêu / thiêu

Sino-Vietnamese readings exist in classical dictionaries but are rarely used in modern active vocabulary.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ショウ (shō) / Kun: かす.める (kasu.meru)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

초

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You use your HAND (扌) to grab a small token or item on your desk in a FLASH (肖) so you can deliver it to your friend along your way.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

肖

xiàosimilarPhonetic Core (声旁)

消

xiāoto diminish, consume, or disappear+ 氵 (water)

销

xiāoto melt, to cancel, to sell, to spend+ 钅 (metal)

悄

qiāoquietly, secretly+ 忄 (heart)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

消(xiāo)

Look at the left side: 扌 is hand delivery, while 氵 is water and melting.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

你去超市的时候，能帮我[___]一瓶牛奶吗？

Clue: shāo

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left radical with water (氵) or mixing up the tones and initials with similar syllables like shǎo (少).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 捎, what action does it describe in daily life context?

Production: How do you write the character meaning 'to bring or deliver along the way' with pinyin shāo?

捎shāoto bring sth to sb

Speed:

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