扫 (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
扫 (sǎo) is a Chinese character meaning “to sweep (with a brush or broom).” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (structural) and 彐 (structural). It ranks #1426 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 扫 simplified form of 掃; to use 扌 a broom 帚; 帚 also provides the pronunciation. 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 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
Etymology & Origin
ideographicSimplified form of 掃; to use 扌 a broom 帚; 帚 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿰扌彐 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 扫 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 扫
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 打扫verb | dǎ sǎo | to clean | 3 |
| 扫描verb | sǎo miáo | to scan | 6 |
| 扫码verb | sǎo mǎ | to scan a QR code or barcode | 4 |
| 清扫verb | qīng sǎo | to tidy up | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 扫地verb | sǎo dì | to sweep the floor |
| 扫兴verb | sǎo xìng | to spoil things |
| 扫帚noun | sào zhou | broom |
| 扫描仪noun | sǎo miáo yí | scanner (device) |
| 扫荡verb | sǎo dàng | (military) to mop up |
| 横扫verb | héng sǎo | to sweep away |
| 扫射verb | sǎo shè | to rake with machine gunfire |
| 扫把noun | sào bǎ | broom |
| 扫除verb | sǎo chú | to clean |
| 扫描器noun | sǎo miáo qì | scanner |
| 一扫而光phrase | yī sǎo ér guāng | see 一掃而空|一扫而空 |
| 扫黄verb | sǎo huáng | campaign against pornography |
| 扫尾verb | sǎo wěi | to complete the last stage of work |
| 扫墓verb | sǎo mù | to sweep a grave (and pay one's respects to the dead person) |
| 一扫而空phrase | yī sǎo ér kōng | (idiom) to make a clean sweep of |
扫 appears in 58 compound words: 66 as the first character, 9 as the last, and 26 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 扫 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
(sciences) tomography; short for 電子計算機斷層掃描／电子计算机断层扫描 (“computed tomography (CT)”)
Example Sentences
每天早上，清洁工都会打扫街道，保持城市整洁。
Měitiān zǎoshang, qīngjié gōng dōu huì dǎsǎo jiēdào, bǎochí chéngshì zhěngjié.
Every morning, cleaners sweep the streets to keep the city tidy.
...党新北初选出线 蔡美华邀桃园2绿议员汐止扫街
. . . dǎng xīn běi chū xuǎn chū xiàn 蔡 měi huá yāo táo yuán 2 lǜ yì yuán 汐 zhǐ sǎo jiē
... The party's New Taipei primary election line Cai Meihua invited Taoyuan 2 green councilors Xizhi to sweep the streets
英男飞美国大扫货!买“10颗硬碟”送纽约5天4夜 惊人...
yīng nán fēi měi guó dà sǎo huò ! mǎi 1 0 kē yìng dié sòng niǔ yuē 5 tiān 4 yè jīng rén . . .
British men fly to the United States to clean up goods! Buy "10 hard drives" and get 5 days and 4 nights in New York Amazing...
...大阪Brand Off遭窃! 歹徒破窗狂扫数十件贵金属奢侈品
. . . dà 阪 B r a n d O f f zāo qiè ! dǎi tú pò chuāng kuáng sǎo shǔ shí jiàn guì jīn shǔ shē chǐ pǐn
... Osaka Brand Off stolen! Gangsters broke windows and swept dozens of precious metal luxury goods
全台最大旗舰店!牛排馆扫地畚箕举高清灰
quán tái zuì dà qí jiàn diàn ! niú pái guǎn sǎo dì 畚 箕 jǔ gāo qīng huī
The largest flagship store in Taiwan! Steakhouse sweeps the floor and lifts high-definition ash
新春跨境消费实现“丝滑”扫码,解锁人民币“走出去”..
xīn chūn kuà jìng xiāo fèi shí xiàn sī huá sǎo mǎ , xiè suǒ rén mín bì zǒu chū qù . .
The New Year's cross-border consumption to realize the "silky smooth" sweep code, unlocking the RMB "go out"...
我在监狱里打扫过厕所。
Wǒ zài jiānyù lǐ dǎsǎo guo cèsuǒ.
I cleaned toilets in a prison.
汤姆，你能教玛丽用扫描仪吗？
Tāngmǔ, nǐ néng jiāo Mǎlì yòng sǎomiáoyí ma?
Tom, can you show Mary how to use the scanner?
你家好脏啊！你多久没打扫卫生？
Nǐ jiā hǎo zāng ā! nǐ duōjiǔ méi dǎsǎo wèishēng?
Your home is such a mess! When was the last time you cleaned it?
汤姆说他打扫屋子打扫了一天。
Tāngmǔ shuō tā dǎsǎo wūzi dǎsǎo le yī tiān.
Tom said that he had been cleaning the house all day.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 扫 (sǎo) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 扫 have?
What is the radical of 扫?
What are the components of 扫?
What are common words containing 扫?
What characters sound the same as 扫 (sǎo)?
Is 扫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 扫 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.