捞 (lāo) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

捞

lāo[lao1]Tone 1

to fish up, to dredge up

HSK 7

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撈

Guru Deep Dive

English · to fish up, to dredge up

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left water radical (氵) takes up about one-third of the width, while the right component (劳) takes up the remaining two-thirds, keeping both sides visually balanced.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 撈 by streamlining the right-side phonetic component from 勞 to 劳.

1. Meaning

to fish up, to dredge up, to scoop out of water

to get by improper means, to profit at the expense of othersto catch, to grab

VerbNeutral#actions#water#acquisition

Sample Usage

他在河里捞起了一块手表。
tā zài hé lǐ lāo qǐ le yí kuài shǒubiǎo.
He fished up a watch from the river.
这回他可是捞了个大便宜。
zhè huí tā kě shì lāo le gè dà piányí.
This time he really scooped up a huge bargain.

2. Sound

/[laʊ̯˥˥]/Tone: 55

捞

lāolao1

¯(55)

=lāo

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

lao

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: Alveolar Lateral

Sounds like: l sound as in 'love'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Air flows freely around both sides of tongue.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth, letting air flow out the sides.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ao rhymes with 'ow' in 'cow'

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 steady, flat pitch sung at the upper limit of your vocal range, matching a monotonous musical note.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the high level tone 1 (lāo) with the rising tone 2 (láo) or dipping tone 3 (lǎo). Pay close attention to the flat pitch of the voice.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Keep your hand flat and steady at eye level, making a straight horizontal motion to represent the high level pitch of Tone 1.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left water radical (氵) takes up about one-third of the width, while the right component (劳) takes up the remaining two-thirds, keeping both sides visually balanced.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 撈 by streamlining the right-side phonetic component from 勞 to 劳.

4. Components

Radical 氵 · Water Radical (water, liquids, rivers)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 氵 (Indicates that the action involves water or liquids (fishing up from water).)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 劳 (original sound: láo)

The water radical (氵) meets the phonetic component 'labor' or 'toil' (劳), suggesting that fishing something out of the water takes physical labor and effort.

氵 water indicator
劳 phonetic and labor/effort clue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

8· Phonetic Root: 劳 (láo)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the water signifier (氵) to show the liquid environment and 劳 to provide the sound and the underlying concept of strenuous work.

Semantic Evolution: Originally meant pulling or dredging objects out of water through manual labor, which later extended metaphorically to grabbing unexpected profits or benefits.

Water-related verbs often utilize the three-dot water radical (氵) to visually anchor their operational context for readers.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ロウ (rō)

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You put in hard **labor** (劳) by the **water** (氵) to **fish up** (捞) a sunken treasure chest.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

劳

láotoil, labor, fatiguePhonetic Core (声旁)

唠

láoused in 嘮叨|唠叨[lao2 dao5]+ 口 (mouth)

涝

làoflooded+ 氵 (water)

崂

láoname of a mountain in Shandong+ 山 (mountain)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

涝(lào)

Contains the water radical on the left like 捞, but means flood or waterlogging instead of fishing up.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他在水里[___]起了一个皮球。

Clue: lāo

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the tone contour of lāo (Tone 1) with lǎo (Tone 3) or láo (Tone 2), or confusing it with visually similar characters sharing the same phonetic root like 涝.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 捞 mean and what is its Pinyin with tone?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to fish up' or 'to dredge up' in Chinese?

捞lāoto fish up, to dredge up

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