掏 (tāo) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

掏

tāo[tao1]Tone 1

to fish out (from pocket), to scoop

HSK 6

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · to fish out (from pocket), to scoop

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand radical 扌) should occupy about one-third of the width, leaving the remaining two-thirds balanced for the right component (陶).

1. Meaning

to fish out, to scoop, to pull out from a confined space

to dig out (a hole)to empty (one's pocket or purse)

VerbNeutral#hand actions#physical manipulation#retrieval

Sample Usage

他从口袋里掏出一把钥匙。
tā cóng kǒudài lǐ tāo chū yì bǎ yàoshi.
He fished a bunch of keys out of his pocket.
小偷掏了我的钱包。
xiǎotōutāo le wǒ de qiánbāo.
The pickpocket fished out/stole my wallet.

2. Sound

/[tʰɑʊ̯⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

掏

tāotao1

¯(55)

=tāo

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Alveolar

Sounds like: t as in top

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Explosive puff of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST flutter.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge right behind the upper front teeth, releasing a burst of air.

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 flat and sustained, exactly like singing a single high note steadily without any rise or fall.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing it with the unaspirated 'd' sound or mistaking the 'ao' final for an '-an' or '-ang' final.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A flat, high-pitched horizontal hand gesture held steady at eye level, matching the high level tone (55).

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand radical 扌) should occupy about one-third of the width, leaving the remaining two-thirds balanced for the right component (陶).

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand radical (Hand actions, touching, manipulating)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (Indicates that this action is performed with the hand (reaching into a pocket or scooping).)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 陶 (original sound: táo)

A HAND (扌) reaches into pottery or a container (陶) to scoop something out.

扌 Hand action
陶 Phonetic clue providing the sound táo

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

6· Phonetic Root: 匋 (táo)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) showing manual action and the phonetic element (陶) to represent the sound of reaching into a cavity or pocket.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referring to scooping or extracting objects from deep inside containers, it expanded to modern uses like fishing keys, money, or phones out of pockets.

The right component 陶 originally referred to pottery kiln work, but here it serves purely for pronunciation.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

With your own HAND (扌), you reach into a hot clay POT (陶) to TAO-tally (tāo) fish out a hidden treasure.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

陶

táopottery, kilnWithout the hand radical, it means pottery or ceramics.

萄

táogrape (in 葡萄 pútáo)Adds the grass radical (艹) on top for fruit.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

陶(táo)

陶 lacks the hand radical (扌) on the left and refers to pottery.

逃(táo)

逃 uses the movement radical (辶) instead of hand (扌), meaning to escape.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他把手伸进口袋，[___]出了一张照片。

Clue: tāo

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the hand radical (扌) with the speech radical (讠) or movement radical (辶), leading to wrong lookalike characters like 詯 or 逃.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 掏 mean and what hand action does it depict?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to fish out from pocket' (tāo) using the hand radical?

掏tāoto fish out (from pocket), to scoop

Speed:

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