爬 (pá) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

爬

pá[pa2]Tone 2

to crawl, to climb

HSK 2

Guru Deep Dive

English · to crawl, to climb

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (爪) is compressed and slightly raised, while the right component (巴) provides stability with its bottom sweeping stroke, keeping the character balanced and compact.

1. Meaning

to crawl or to climb

to get up or sit up from bedto scramble up a steep slope or mountain

VerbNeutral#movement#action#physical posture

Sample Usage

小弟弟在地上爬。
xiǎo dìdi zài dì shang pá.
The little younger brother is crawling on the floor.
明天我们要去爬山。
míngtiān wǒmen yào qù pá shān.
Tomorrow we are going to climb a mountain.

2. Sound

/[pʰa²]/Tone: 35

爬

pápa2

´(35)

=pá

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Bilabial

Sounds like: p sound as in 'pat'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong puff of air! A tissue held before lips MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips touch gently to build air pressure, then burst open with a strong puff of breath.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: open 'a' sound as in 'father'

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

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 rises like a question mark, lifting your voice pitch from middle to high.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse with the first tone (pā) or fourth tone (pà). Tone 2 starts mid and climbs, sounding inquiring.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 2 rises from a mid pitch to a high pitch like a questioning 'What?' or a rising hand gesture moving up and to the right.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes

4. Components

Radical 爪 · Claw Radical (claw, hand or nail)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 爪 (Indicates grasping or using claws/hands to move along a surface)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 巴 (original sound: ba/pa sound providing the pronunciation hint)

A claw or hand (爪) paired with a tail/body part (巴) vividly suggests an animal or person using all limbs—hands and feet—to crawl or climb along the ground.

爪 Claw or hand representing grasping
巴 Phonetic and structural component providing the sound 'pa'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

20· Phonetic Root: 巴 (bā)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally a combination of the claw/hand radical (爪) and a phonetic indicator (巴), depicting the physical action of grasping surfaces to haul oneself upward or forward.

Semantic Evolution: From ancient depictions of animal and human scrambling, it evolved into modern verbs for crawling on all fours, climbing mountains, and rising up from bed.

The character visually captures the mechanics of climbing where hands must claw at rocks or steps.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture a cat with sharp CLAWS (爪) climbing up a tree trunk, yelling 'PA! (巴)' as it scrambles higher and higher.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

把

bǎto hold, handleUses the hand radical (扌) instead of claw (爪) to mean holding with a hand.

爸

bàdadUses the father radical (父) on top with 巴 on the bottom.

吧

bamodal particleUses the mouth radical (口) on the left to indicate a speech particle.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

把(bǎ)

把 has the left hand radical (扌) for holding things, while 爬 has the claw radical (爪) on top/left for crawling.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

累了一天，我终于[___]上了山顶。

Clue: pá

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the rising tone (pá) with the falling tone (pà), or misidentifying the top-left radical as the hand radical (扌) instead of the claw radical (爪).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 爬, what action does it represent and what is its Pinyin?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to climb / to crawl' with Pinyin pá?

爬páto crawl, to climb

Speed:

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