捞 meaning and stroke order
To fish up; to dredge up
How to write 捞, stroke by stroke
10 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 捞
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to fish up
- to dredge up
How 捞 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Hand.
扌 gives the meaning and 劳 hints at the sound.
Radical: 扌 (hand), shared by 342 characters on this site.
How to remember 捞
The hand 扌 does the work, and 劳 (láo) gives the sound and suggests labor. Picture a hand laboring to scoop something up out of the water.
捞 (lāo) means to pull something out of a liquid, like fishing up objects, scooping noodles from boiling water, or salvaging a sunken ship with 打捞 (dǎlāo). It also appears in the idiom 大海捞针 (dàhǎilāozhēn) for a nearly impossible search. Example: 他从水里捞起一个瓶子。(Tā cóng shuǐ lǐ lāo qǐ yí ge píngzi.) He fished a bottle out of the water.
Common mistake: Learners often use the second tone because the phonetic part 劳 is láo, but 捞 is first tone, lāo. Also do not confuse it with 劳 itself, which lacks the hand radical and means labor.
Common words with 捞
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
捞 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 捞
How many strokes are in 捞?
捞 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 捞 mean?
捞 (lāo) means to fish up; to dredge up. A common word with it is 打捞 (dǎlāo), meaning "to salvage; to dredge".
How do you pronounce 捞?
捞 is pronounced lāo, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 捞?
The radical of 捞 is 扌, which carries the idea of "hand". Dictionaries list 捞 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 捞?
The traditional form of 捞 is 撈. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 捞 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 捞 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 捞 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 捞 and 舀 (yǎo)?
捞 means to fish solid things out of a liquid, such as noodles or a lost phone. 舀 means to ladle out the liquid itself, such as soup or water.
Can 捞 mean to gain something improperly?
Yes, in casual speech 捞 can mean to grab benefits by dubious means, as in 捞钱 (lāo qián), to rake in money. This sense is informal and usually negative.