爬 (pá): to crawl, to climb, to get up or sit up
爬 (pá) is a Chinese character meaning “to crawl.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 爪 (semantic) and 巴 (phonetic). It ranks #1417 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 爬 claw. Its radical form 爪 (claw) appears in many related characters such as 爪 (zhǎo, foot of a bird or animal), 爵 (jué, ancient bronze wine holder with 3 legs and loop handle).
Definitions
- to crawl
- to climb
- to get up or sit up
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 爬 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 爬山 | pá shān | to go for a hike (esp. in the hills or mountains) |
| 爬行 | pá xíng | to crawl |
| 爬虫 | pá chóng | reptile |
| 爬升 | pá shēng | to rise |
| 爬行动物 | pá xíng dòng wù | reptile |
| 摸爬滚打 | mō pá gǔn dǎ | to go through challenging experiences |
| 爬格子 | pá gé zi | (oral) to write (esp. for a living) |
| 爬山虎 | pá shān hǔ | Boston ivy or Japanese creeper (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) |
| 吃里爬外 | chī lǐ pá wài | to work against the interests of sb one derives support from |
| 人往高处爬，水往低处流 | rén wǎng gāo chù pá , shuǐ wǎng dī chù liú | see 人往高處走，水往低處流|人往高处走，水往低处流[ren2 wang3 gao1 chu4 zou3 , shui3 wang3 di1 chu4 liu2] |
| 爬行类 | pá xíng lèi | reptiles |
| 爬上 | pá shàng | to climb up |
| 爬虫动物 | pá chóng dòng wù | reptile |
| 草爬子 | cǎo pá zi | tick (zoology) |
| 爬山涉水 | pá shān shè shuǐ | to climb mountains and wade rivers (idiom) |
爬 appears in 28 compound words: 68 as the first character, 7 as the last, and 25 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 爬 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
rolling and crawling (describes a scene in which people are chaotically fleeing every which way from danger)
to climb mountains and wade rivers (idiom); fig. to make a long and difficult journey
Showing 4 of 5 idioms containing 爬.
Example Sentences
学习爬字需要反复练习，才能写得工整。
xué xí pá zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .
Learning to write characters requires repeated practice to achieve neatness.
...“转移腹膜” 坚持不化疗!痛到瘫在马桶旁爬不起来
. . . zhuǎn yí fù mó jiān chí bù huà liáo ! tòng dào tān zài mǎ tǒng páng pá bù qǐ lái
...“Peritoneal metastasis”—refusing chemotherapy! The pain was so intense that I collapsed next to the toilet and couldn’t get up
中坜工安意外!工人爬梯坠1.5公尺 家属控工程公司不闻不问
zhōng 坜 gōng ān yì wài ! gōng rén pá tī zhuì 1 . 5 gōng chǐ jiā shǔ kòng gōng chéng gōng sī bù wén bù wèn
Workplace Accident in Zhongli! Worker Falls 1.5 Meters from Ladder; Family Accuses Construction Company of Turning a Blind Eye
小英爬山助攻小鸡!媒体人:票跑不掉了
xiǎo yīng pá shān zhù gōng xiǎo jī ! méi tǐ rén : piào pǎo bù diào le
Tsai Ing-wen climbs a mountain to rally support for her running mate! Media commentator: The votes are in the bag
美海军太平洋舰队引进机器人爬墙飞行维修
měi hǎi jūn tài píng yáng jiàn duì yǐn jìn jī qì rén pá qiáng fēi háng wéi xiū
U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Introduces Robots Capable of Climbing Walls and Performing In-Flight Maintenance
...年福厂新丁新枝 六堆运动会“周岁组”抓周爬行
. . . nián fú hǎn xīn dīng xīn zhī liù duī yùn dòng huì zhōu suì zǔ zhuā zhōu pá háng
... Nianfu Factory Xinding Xinzhi Liudui Games "Anniversary Group" grasped the week crawl
你曾经爬过阿苏山吗？
Nǐ céngjīng pá guo āsū Shān ma?
Have you ever climbed Mt. Aso?
那只猫是怎么爬上屋顶的？
Nà zhī māo shì zěnme páshàng wūdǐng de?
How did the cat manage to climb on the roof?
为什么你在爬这棵树？
Wèishénme nǐ zài pá zhè kē shù?
Why are you climbing this tree?
你从桌下爬出来吧！
Nǐ cóng zhuō xià pá chūlái ba!
Come out from under the table!
Character Family
爪 Radical Family — Characters sharing the claw radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 爬 (pá) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 爬 and 下?
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What is the radical of 爬?
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What are common words containing 爬?
What characters sound the same as 爬 (pá)?
Is 爬 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 爬 with real-time feedback
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