扫 meaning in English

sǎo

to sweep (with a brush or broom); to sweep away; to wipe out; to get rid of

HSK 4verbTraditional 掃6 strokes

Meaning of 扫

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

sǎo

to sweep (with a brush or broom)
to sweep away; to wipe out; to get rid of
to sweep (one's eyes etc) over; to scan

sào

(bound form) a (large) broom

How to use 扫

扫 (sǎo) is used for sweeping with a broom and, by extension, for quickly passing your eyes or a scanner over something. It appears in common words like 打扫 (dǎsǎo, to clean) and 扫描 (sǎomiáo, to scan). Example: 我每天早上扫地。 (Wǒ měitiān zǎoshang sǎo dì.) I sweep the floor every morning.

扫 has the hand part 扌 on the left and 彐 on the right, which looks like a hand holding a broom head. A hand pushing a broom means to sweep.

Common mistake: Learners often confuse 扫 with 归 (guī, to return), which shares the 彐 part but has a different left side. Also remember that 扫 is third tone sǎo in almost all words. Only the noun sense "broom," as in 扫帚 (sàozhou), uses fourth tone sào.

扫 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

学xué生shēng有yǒu清qīng扫sǎo教jiào室shì的de责zé任rèn。

It is the students' duty to clean their classrooms.

你nǐ从cóng不bù清qīng扫sǎo你nǐ的de房fáng间jiān吗ma？

Don't you ever clean your room?

这zhè房fáng间jiān是shì由yóu汤tāng姆mǔ清qīng扫sǎo的de。

This room is cleaned by Tom.

我wǒ让ràng她tā清qīng扫sǎo了le我wǒ的de房fáng间jiān。

I got her to clean my room.

汤tāng姆mǔ正zhèng在zài清qīng扫sǎo人rén行xíng道dào。

Tom is sweeping the sidewalk.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

扫 sǎo · to sweep · 6 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 扫.

打扫	dǎsǎo	to clean; to sweep
扫描	sǎomiáo	to scan
扫兴	sǎoxìng	to spoil things; to dampen spirits; to feel deflated; to be dispirited
扫除	sǎochú	to clean; to clean up; to eliminate; to wipe out
扫墓	sǎomù	to sweep a grave (and pay one's respects to the dead person)
清扫	qīngsǎo	to tidy up; to mop up
扫帚	sàozhou	broom
扫荡	sǎodàng	(military) to mop up; to crack down on; to eradicate
扫射	sǎoshè	to rake with machine gunfire; to strafe
扫地	sǎodì	to sweep the floor; (fig.) (of one's reputation etc) to reach rock bottom
横扫	héngsǎo	to sweep away; to sweep across
扫把	sàobǎ	broom

Questions about 扫

What does 扫 mean?

扫 (sǎo) means "to sweep (with a brush or broom); to sweep away; to wipe out; to get rid of" and is used as a verb.

How do you write 扫?

扫 is made of 1 character: 扫 (6 strokes). That is 6 strokes in total.

Is 扫 an HSK word?

Yes. 扫 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

How is 扫 written in traditional Chinese?

In traditional characters, 扫 is written 掃.

How do you say "scan a QR code" in Chinese?

People say 扫码 (sǎo mǎ) or 扫一扫 (sǎo yi sǎo). You will hear 扫一下二维码 (sǎo yíxià èrwéimǎ), "scan the QR code," all the time when paying in China.

What does 扫兴 mean and how is it used?

扫兴 (sǎoxìng) literally means "to sweep away the mood." It describes spoiling fun or feeling let down, as in 真扫兴 (zhēn sǎoxìng), "what a letdown."