抽 (chōu): to draw out, to pull out from in between, to remove part of the whole

抽 (chōu) is a Chinese character meaning “to draw out.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 由 (phonetic). It ranks #1174 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 抽 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).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to draw out
  2. to pull out from in between
  3. to remove part of the whole

Etymology & Origin

抽

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌由 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing 抽 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 抽

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
抽象adjectivechōu xiàngabstract6
抽奖verbchōu jiǎngto draw a prize6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
抽烟verbchōu yānvariant of 抽菸|抽烟
抽屉nounchōu tidrawer
抽出verbchōu chūto take out
抽筋verbchōu jīncramp
抽空verbchōu kòngto find the time to do sth
抽搐verbchōu chùto twitch
抽签verbchōu qiānto perform divination with sticks
抽身verbchōu shēnto get away from
抽血verbchōu xuèto take blood
抽取verbchōu qǔto extract
抽打verbchōu dǎto whip
抽动verbchōu dòngto twitch
抽泣verbchōu qìto sob spasmodically
抽水verbchōu shuǐto pump water
抽查verbchōu chárandom inspection
74
Total compounds
81
As first character
11
As last character
8
As middle character

抽 appears in 74 compound words: 81 as the first character, 11 as the last, and 8 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 抽 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

屉tì
0.665357 co-occurrences
刃rèn
0.60610 co-occurrences
象xiàng
0.55211,590 co-occurrences
签qiān
0.5253,972 co-occurrences
枝zhī
0.47012 co-occurrences
蓄xù
0.463810 co-occurrences
汁zhī
0.45110 co-occurrences
筋jīn
0.449526 co-occurrences
调diào
0.4393,434 co-occurrences
烟yān
0.435707 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

抽水马桶chōushuǐ mǎtǒngHSK 5+

flush toilet

noun
抽油烟机chōuyóuyānjīHSK 5+

extractor hood

noun
抽丝剥茧chōusībōjiǎnHSK 7+

to painstakingly get to the bottom of something; to struggle to understand a convoluted argument or issue

phrase
釜底抽薪fǔdǐchōuxīnHSK 6+

to deal with a problem from the root

phrase
抽抽噎噎chōu chou yē yēHSK 5+

(idiom) to sob and sniffle

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

妈妈抽着孩子的手,慢慢地过马路。

mā mā chōu zhe hái zǐ de shǒu , màn màn dì guò mǎ lù .

Mom held her child's hand and slowly crossed the street.

99 健康网Feb 2026

孕妇一边喂奶一边做dna检查有影响吗?抽血过程会减少乳汁分泌量吗

yùn fù yī biān wéi nǎi yī biān zuò d n a jiǎn chá yǒu yǐng xiǎng ma ? chōu xiě guò chéng huì jiǎn shǎo rǔ zhī fēn mì liàng ma

Does it make a difference for pregnant women to do DNA tests while breastfeeding? Does the blood draw process reduce milk production?

99 健康网Feb 2026

...有问题要怎么检查?第一步该做问卷还是直接抽血

. . . yǒu wèn tí yāo zěn má jiǎn chá ? dì yī bù gāi zuò wèn juǎn hái shì zhí jiē chōu xiě

... How to check if there is a problem? The first step is to take a questionnaire or draw blood directly

99 健康网Feb 2026

...妇一边喂奶一边做dna检查有影响吗?一次抽血对身体和乳汁无实质伤害吗

. . . fù yī biān wéi nǎi yī biān zuò d n a jiǎn chá yǒu yǐng xiǎng ma ? yī cì chōu xiě duì shēn tǐ hé rǔ zhī wú shí zhì shāng hài ma

... Does it make a difference for a woman to do a DNA test while breastfeeding? Is a blood draw not substantially harmful to the body and milk?

EdigestFeb 2026

未沽货都要交税?荷兰“空手抽白刃”狠征 36% 增值税 激走高净值富...

wèi gū huò dōu yāo jiāo shuì ? hé lán kōng shǒu chōu bái 刃 hěn zhēng 3 6 zēng zhí shuì jī zǒu gāo jìng zhí fù . . .

Do you have to pay taxes before selling? The Netherlands "empty-handed" severely imposed 36% value-added tax to drive away high-net-worth wealth...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

兆丰证新春开户抽 iPhone

zhào fēng zhèng xīn chūn kāi hù chōu i P h o n e

Mega Securities New Year account opening iPhone draw

Tatoeba

克劳迪奥留着长发,而且抽大麻。

Kè láo Dí'ào liú zhe chángfà, érqiě chōu dàmá.

Claudio had long hair and smoked pot.

Tatoeba

汤姆从抽屉里拿出一把锅铲。

Tāngmǔ cóng chōuti lǐ náchū yī bǎ guōchǎn.

Tom took a spatula out of the drawer.

Tatoeba

你有火柴吗?很抱歉,我不抽菸。

Nǐ yǒu huǒchái ma? hěn bàoqiàn, wǒ bù chōuyān.

"Do you have a match?" "I'm sorry, but I don't smoke."

Tatoeba

你又皮发痒了,找抽,是吧?

Nǐ yòu pí fāyǎng le, zhǎochōu, shì ba?

You just can't stand still, huh? What are you, looking for a fight?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 扌 (hand) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced chōu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 抽 (chōu) mean in Chinese?
抽 (chōu) primarily means "to draw out." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1174 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 抽 and 推?
抽 (chōu) and 推 (tuī) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 抽 (pull) vs 推 (push).
How many strokes does 抽 have?
抽 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 抽?
The radical associated with 抽 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 抽?
抽 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 由 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌由 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 抽?
Common words with 抽 include: 抽烟 (chōu yān, "variant of 抽菸|抽烟"); 抽屉 (chōu ti, "drawer"); 抽出 (chōu chū, "to take out"); 抽筋 (chōu jīn, "cramp"); 抽空 (chōu kòng, "to find the time to do sth"). There are over 74 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 抽 (chōu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chōu: 仇 (hatred), 筹 (chip (in gambling)), 丑 (clown), 臭 (stench). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 抽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 抽 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 抽 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.