擦 (cā): to rub, to scratch, to wipe, to polish, to apply (lipstick, lotion etc)
擦 (cā) is a Chinese character meaning “to rub.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 察 (phonetic). It ranks #1744 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 擦 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).
Definitions
- to rub
- to scratch
- to wipe
- to polish
- to apply (lipstick, lotion etc)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 擦 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 擦伤 | cā shāng | to abrade |
| 摩擦 | mó cā | friction |
| 擦屁股 | cā pì gu | to wipe one’s ass |
| 擦掉 | cā diào | to wipe |
| 擦肩而过 | cā jiān ér guò | to brush past |
| 擦亮 | cā liàng | to polish |
| 擦拭 | cā shì | to wipe clean |
| 擦洗 | cā xǐ | to clean (with water or alcohol) |
| 擦边球 | cā biān qiú | (table tennis) edge ball |
| 摩拳擦掌 | mó quán cā zhǎng | fig. to rub one's fists and wipe one's palms (idiom) |
| 磨擦 | mó cā | variant of 摩擦[mo2 ca1] |
| 橡皮擦 | xiàng pí cā | eraser |
| 摩擦力 | mó cā lì | friction |
| 擦澡 | cā zǎo | to rub down with a wet towel |
| 板擦 | bǎn cā | blackboard or whiteboard eraser |
擦 appears in 49 compound words: 61 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 24 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 擦 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
to keep one's eyes open (idiom); to be on one's guard; to be clear-eyed
to rub one's fists and wipe one's palms; to roll up one's sleeves for a battle
Showing 6 of 7 idioms containing 擦.
Example Sentences
她用抹布擦了擦桌子,把灰尘都清理干净了。
Tā yòng mābù cā le cā zhuōzi, bǎ huīchén dōu qīnglǐ gānjìng le.
She wiped the table with a cloth, cleaning off all the dust.
...下面瘙痒是什么原因引起的?肥胖者腹股沟摩擦加重症状吗
. . . xià miàn 瘙 yǎng shì shén má yuán yīn yǐn qǐ de ? féi pàng zhě fù gǔ gōu mó cā jiā chóng zhèng zhuàng ma
... What causes itching below? Do obese people aggravate groin friction?
2025年12月份全球经贸摩擦指数继续处于高位
2 0 2 5 nián 1 2 yuè fèn quán qiú jīng mào mó cā zhǐ shǔ jì xù chǔ yú gāo wèi
The global economic and trade friction index will continue to be high in December 2025
化学槽车擦撞护栏 国1五堵段回堵4公里
huà xué cáo chē cā zhuàng hù lán guó 1 wǔ dǔ duàn huí dǔ 4 gōng lǐ
The chemical tank truck collided with the guardrail and the five blocking sections of National 1 blocked 4 kilometers
桃園某知名遭離職員工指控 水果發霉竟擦掉後重新上架賣
táo 園 mǒu zhī míng zāo 離 職 員 gōng zhǐ kòng shuǐ guǒ 發 méi jìng cā diào 後 chóng xīn shàng jià 賣
A well-known person in Taoyuan was accused by a resigned employee of wiping off the moldy fruit and putting it back on the shelves for sale
機車擦撞南橫瓦筏哈橋護欄 騎士摔落送醫仍不治
機 車 cā zhuàng nán 橫 wǎ 筏 hā 橋 護 欄 騎 shì shuāi luò sòng 醫 réng bù zhì
Motorcycle crashes into guardrail at South Crossing Waveshire Bridge, sending rider to hospital where he died.
汤姆小心翼翼地把刀子上的指纹擦掉。
Tāngmǔ xiǎoxīnyìyì de bǎ dāozi shàng de zhǐwén cādiào.
Tom carefully wiped his fingerprints off the knife.
齐里擦拭他的军靴。
Qí lǐ cāshì tā de jūn xuē.
Ziri cleaned his combat boots.
在家里,麦克的工作就是擦窗户。
Zài jiālǐ, màikè de gōngzuò jiùshì cā chuānghu.
When Michael is at home, his work is to clean the windows.
我在擦鞋垫下面发现了这把钥匙。
Wǒ zài cāxiédiàn xiàmiàn fāxiàn le zhè bǎ yàoshi.
I found the key underneath the mat.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 擦 (cā) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 擦 have?
What is the radical of 擦?
What are the components of 擦?
What are common words containing 擦?
Is 擦 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 擦 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.