撓 (náo) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

撓

náo[nao2]Tone 2

to scratch

HSK 7

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挠

Guru Deep Dive

English · to scratch

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand) should be slightly narrower and compressed, leaving ample room for the right phonetic component to shine.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 撓 by replacing the traditional phonetic right component with a simplified equivalent while keeping the hand radical intact.

1. Meaning

to scratch

to thwartto yieldto disturb

VerbNeutral#physical action#body movement

Sample Usage

他忍不住去挠痒痒。
tā rěn bù zhù qù náo yǎngyang.
He couldn't help scratching his itch.
猫挠坏了沙发。
māo náo huài le shāfā.
The cat scratched and ruined the sofa.

2. Sound

/[nɑʊ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

撓

náonao2

´(35)

=náo

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

nao

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 Nasal

Sounds like: n sound as in 'no'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Air passes completely through nose.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip pressed against the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth.

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

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts mid and rises sharply to the top, exactly like asking 'What?' in English when you didn't hear someone.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse Tone 2 (náo, rising) with Tone 3 (nǎo, dipping), which completely changes the meaning or sounds unnatural.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture moving from low to high, like shrugging your shoulders and asking 'now?'

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (hand) should be slightly narrower and compressed, leaving ample room for the right phonetic component to shine.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 撓 by replacing the traditional phonetic right component with a simplified equivalent while keeping the hand radical intact.

4. Components

Radical 扌 · Hand Radical (hand, manual action)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 扌 (Indicates actions performed with the hand or fingers, such as scratching.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 尧 (original sound: náo)

A hand (扌) reaches out to perform the action associated with the sound of '尧' (náo), which is scratching an itch.

扌 Hand radical indicating physical action
尧 Phonetic component providing the sound náo

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

14· Phonetic Root: 堯

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the hand radical (扌) showing physical movement and 尧 (náo) providing the phonetic reading for scratching or disturbing.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to hand movements like scratching or twisting, later expanding metaphorically to thwarting or yielding.

The hand radical is one of the most common classifiers for physical verbs.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You use your HAND (扌) to SCRACH an itch that yáo-ns (尧) on your skin.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

堯

Phonetic Core (声旁)

僥

+ 亻 (person)

嬈

+ 女 (woman)

曉

+ 日 (sun)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

浇(jiāo)

浇 has water (氵) for watering plants, while 挠 has hand (扌) for scratching.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

蚊子叮了他一下，他忍不住用手去[___]癢。

Clue: náo

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the hand radical (扌) with the water radical (氵), leading to mixing it up with characters like 浇 (jiāo).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 挠, what physical action comes to mind?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to scratch' (náo)?

撓náoto scratch

Speed:

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