掐 (qiā) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

掐

qiā[qia1]Tone 1

to pinch

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · to pinch

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand component) should occupy about one-third of the total width, leaving the right side (jiǎ) slightly wider and balanced vertically.

1. Meaning

to pinch, to nip, to pick (flowers)

to clutch or grip tightly(slang) to fight or quarrel physically or verbally

VerbNeutral / Colloquial#actions#hand gestures#violence

Sample Usage

她用手指掐了一下他的胳膊。
tā yòng shǒuzhǐ qiā le yīxià tā de gēbo.
She pinched his arm with her fingers.
不要掐 garden 里的花。
bùyào qiā huā.
Do not pick the flowers.

2. Sound

/[t͡ɕʰi̯ä˥˥]/Tone: 55

掐

qiāqia1

¯(55)

=qiā

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

qia

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: Aspirated Alveolo-Palatal

Sounds like: ch sound produced with tongue blade near the roof of the mouth

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Extremely strong burst of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST fly.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Blade of the tongue touches or is very close to the hard palate, with the tip down behind lower teeth, releasing a burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: ee-ah diphthong

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

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, steady pitch, comparable to the high-pitched musical 'beep' or sustaining the word 'see' at the top of your vocal range.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing it with piā or qī due to the similar initial sound and high tone.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A flat, high hand motion held steady in the upper register, like singing a high sustained note.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand component) should occupy about one-third of the total width, leaving the right side (jiǎ) slightly wider and balanced vertically.

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand radical (Hand action or manual manipulation)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (Indicates that the action is performed using the hand or fingers.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 臽 (original sound: qián / xiàn)

The left side is the Hand radical (扌), showing that fingers are involved, while the right side (臽) provides the phonetic sound clue and hints at a cavity or trap where something gets caught.

扌 Hand radical indicating manual action
臽 Phonetic component providing the sound base

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

8· Phonetic Root: 臽 (xiàn)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) to represent grasping or pinching, and 臽 as the sound component.

Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting pressing or pinching between fingers or nails, extending to picking flowers and modern slang for fighting.

The right component 臽 originally depicted a person falling into a pit, which relates conceptually to being caught or trapped.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Your HAND (扌) traps something inside a PIT (臽) and aggressively PINCHES it, shouting 'QIĀ!' in a high-pitched voice.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

臽

xiàn(archaic) pit; hole in the ground; old variant of 陷[xian4]Phonetic Core (声旁)

焰

yànflame+ 火 (fire)

阎

yánsurname Yan / gate of a lane+ 门 (door)

萏

dànlotus+ 艹 (plants)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

恰(qià)

Has the heart radical (忄) on the left instead of the hand radical (扌), meaning 'just right' or 'appropriate'.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他用手指[___]了一下我的胳膊。

Clue: qiā

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the hand radical (扌) with the heart radical (忄), which turns the character into 恰 (qià).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What action does the character 掐 represent, and what does its left radical signify?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to pinch' (qiā) combining the hand radical and the phonetic part?

掐qiāto pinch

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0