挑
·
to carry on a shoulder pole; to choose; to pick; to nitpick
9 strokes
Dict coverage rank #1,290 U+6311
How 挑 is formed
Phono-semantic compound (形声字)
扌 (semantic, “hand”) + 兆 (phonetic, zhào)
How to remember it
foment · Heisig RSH #1847
fingers + 兆 portent
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Phonetic series: characters sharing the sound component 兆
Siblings built with the same phonetic component 兆 (zhào) — compare how they read:
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 兆 sound component | zhào | omen; mega-, million |
| 跳 | tiào | to hop, to skip; to jump, to leap; to vault; to dance |
| 桃 | táo | peach; marriage; surname |
| 逃 | táo | to abscond, to dodge, to escape, to flee |
| 姚 | yáo | handsome, elegant, attractive; surname |
| 洮 | táo | to cleanse; a river in Gansu province |
| 眺 | tiào | to gaze, to look at; to scan, to survey |
| 窕 | tiǎo | slender; quiet, modest; charming |
| 铫 | yáo | hoe; spear; surname |
| 珧 | yáo | mother-of-pearl |
| 晁 | cháo | morning, dawn; surname |
| 祧 | tiāo | ancestral hall |
| 鼗 | táo | small revolving drum with knobs |
Words containing 挑
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鸡蛋里挑骨头 | jī dàn li tiāo gǔ tou | to look for bones in an egg; to find fault; to nitpick (idiom) |
| 百里挑一 | bǎi lǐ tiāo yī | one in a hundred; cream of the crop |
| 挑头儿 | tiǎo tóu r | erhua variant of 挑頭|挑头[tiao3 tou2] |
| 高挑子 | gāo tiǎo zi | tall person |
| 挑战者号 | Tiǎo zhàn zhě Hào | Space Shuttle Challenger |
| 挑山工 | tiāo shān gōng | laborers who carry cargo up and down the mountains on shoulder poles |
| 挑花眼 | tiǎo huā yǎn | (fig.) to get cross-eyed; to be bewildered |
| 挑战者 | tiǎo zhàn zhě | challenger |
| 挑口板 | tiāo kǒu bǎn | fascia; eaves board |
| 挑毛病 | tiāo máo bìng | to nitpick; petty criticism; to nag |
| 目挑心招 | mù tiǎo xīn zhāo | the eye incites, the heart invites (idiom); flirtatious; making eyes at sb |
| 挑灯夜战 | tiǎo dēng yè zhàn | to raise a lantern and fight at night (idiom); fig. to work into the night; to burn the mi… |
| 剃头挑子一头热 | tì tóu tiāo zi yī tóu rè | lit. only one end of the barber's pole is hot (idiom); fig. one-sided enthusiasm; one part… |
| 精挑细选 | jīng tiāo xì xuǎn | to select very carefully |
| 挑子 | tiāo zi | carrying pole and its load |
| 千挑万选 | qiān tiāo wàn xuǎn | to select very carefully |
| 挑头 | tiǎo tóu | to take the lead; to be first to (do sth); to pioneer |
| 挑动 | tiǎo dòng | to entice; to arouse; to provoke |
| 挑花 | tiǎo huā | cross-stitch (embroidery) |
| 挑高 | tiāo gāo | (architecture) high-ceilinged; to raise (a ceiling) to a height of; ceiling height |