萄 (táo) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

萄

táo[tao2]Tone 2

grape

HSK 5

Guru Deep Dive

English · grape

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The top grass radical (艹) should sit lightly and evenly across the top, while the lower component (甸) provides a stable, balanced foundation with a wide base.

1. Meaning

grape

component of the compound word 葡萄 (pútáo, grape)

NounNeutralBound morpheme#fruit#plants#food

Sample Usage

我最喜欢吃葡萄。
Wǒ zuì xǐhuān chī pútáo.
I like eating grapes the most.
这串葡萄很甜。
Zhè chuàn pútáo hěn tián.
This bunch of grapes is very sweet.

2. Sound

/[tʰaʊ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

萄

táotao2

´(35)

=táo

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Alveolar

Sounds like: t sound as in English 'top'

Aspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip pressed against the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth, releasing a burst of air

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ao rhymes with the 'ow' sound 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 rises just like when you ask a surprised question in English such as 'What?'

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the initial 't' with 'd'. Remember that 't' is strongly aspirated.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture starting from your chest and moving diagonally upward into the air, matching the upward pitch contour of Tone 2.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top grass radical (艹) should sit lightly and evenly across the top, while the lower component (甸) provides a stable, balanced foundation with a wide base.

4. Components

Radical 艹 · Grass radical (plants, herbs, vegetation)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 艹 (indicates that grapes are a type of plant or fruit vine)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 甸 (original sound: diàn)

The grass radical 艹 sits on top of 甸 (diàn, boundary/field), suggesting vines growing out across the fields.

艹 grass radical indicating plant life
甸 phonetic and structural component

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

6· Phonetic Root: 匋 (táo)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: The character 萄 was created later in Chinese history specifically to be paired with 葡 to form 葡萄 (pútáo), a loanword imported from foreign languages along with the introduction of grapes to China via the Silk Road.

Semantic Evolution: Always predominantly used as a bound morpheme inside the word 葡萄 (grape).

Grapes and the word 葡萄 entered China during the Han Dynasty through cultural exchanges along the Silk Road.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: トウ

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine walking through a grassy field (艹) where lush vines of delicious grapes (萄) are cultivated across the countryside fields (甸).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

葡

púused in 葡萄 grapeHas the water radical 氵 instead of grass, though both combine to form 葡萄.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

陶(táo)

Has the mound radical (阝) on the left instead of the grass radical (艹) on top, meaning pottery.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我今天去超市买了一串葡[___]。

Clue: táo

Common Learner Pitfall

Writing 萄 as an independent standalone word when it almost exclusively appears paired with 葡 in modern Mandarin.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What fruit component does 萄 represent when paired with 葡?

Production: How do you write the second character in 'pútáo' (grape)?

萄táogrape

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0