勺 (sháo): spoon, ladle, CL:把

勺 (sháo) is a Chinese character meaning “spoon.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 勹 (structural) and 丶 (structural). It ranks #2864 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 勺 a spoon 勹 with something in it 丶. Its radical form 勹 (wrap) appears in many related characters such as 包 (bāo, to cover), 勾 (gōu, to attract), 勿 (wù, do not).

Native pronunciation
HSK 3Radical: 勹 wrap3 strokesFrequency #2864勹 structural丶 structural

Definitions

  1. spoon
  2. ladle
  3. CL:把

Etymology & Origin

勺

ideographicA spoon 勹 with something in it 丶

Decomposition: ⿹勹丶 (layout: surround-from-upper-right)

Components:勹structural丶structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 勺

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
勺子nounsháo zispoon3

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
后脑勺hòu nǎo sháoback of the head
汤勺tāng sháosoup ladle
掌勺zhǎng sháoto be in charge of the cooking
漏勺lòu sháoperforated spoon
一马勺坏一锅yī mǎ sháo huài yī guōone ladle (of sth bad) spoils the (whole) pot (idiom)
长柄勺子cháng bǐng sháo ziladle
公勺gōng sháoserving spoon
水勺shuǐ sháoladle
马勺mǎ sháowooden ladle
脑勺nǎo sháoback of the head
饭勺fàn sháorice paddle
耳挖勺ěr wā sháo(dialect) earpick
挖耳勺wā ěr sháoear pick
勺嘴鹬sháo zuǐ yù(bird species of China) spoon-billed sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea)
掏耳勺tāo ěr sháoear pick
21
Total compounds
14
As first character
76
As last character
10
As middle character

勺 appears in 21 compound words: 14 as the first character, 76 as the last, and 10 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 勺 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

柄bǐng
0.459258 co-occurrences
脑nǎo
0.451360 co-occurrences
筷kuài
0.43242 co-occurrences
掏tāo
0.40530 co-occurrences
饭fàn
0.404108 co-occurrences
碗wǎn
0.39672 co-occurrences
汤tāng
0.396138 co-occurrences
嘴zuǐ
0.392150 co-occurrences
锅guō
0.39160 co-occurrences
挖wā
0.390138 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了勺字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le sháo zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "勺" in the dictionary.

Tatoeba

麻烦了，请给我一把汤勺好吗？

Máfan le, qǐng gěi wǒ yī bǎ tāng sháo hǎo ma?

Excuse me, may I have a spoon?

Tatoeba

宝宝还不会使用勺子。

Bǎobǎo hái bù huì shǐyòng sháozi.

The baby cannot use a spoon yet.

Character Family

勹 Radical Family — Characters sharing the wrap radical

包bāo匆cōng勾gōu勿wù匀yún

Related Characters

包bāo勾gōu勿wù匀yún匆cōng

Homophones — Characters pronounced sháo

捎shāo烧shāo梢shāo稍shāo少shǎo绍shào哨shào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 勺 (sháo) mean in Chinese?
勺 (sháo) primarily means "spoon." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #2864 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 勺 have?
勺 is written with 3 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 勺?
The radical associated with 勺 is 勹 (wrap). This radical appears in many characters related to wrap.
What are the components of 勺?
勺 is composed of: 勹 (structural), 丶 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿹勹丶 with a surround-from-upper-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 勺?
Common words with 勺 include: 勺子 (sháo zi, "spoon"); 后脑勺 (hòu nǎo sháo, "back of the head"); 汤勺 (tāng sháo, "soup ladle"); 掌勺 (zhǎng sháo, "to be in charge of the cooking"); 漏勺 (lòu sháo, "perforated spoon"). There are over 21 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 勺 (sháo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation sháo: 捎 (to bring sth to sb), 烧 (to burn, to cook), 梢 (tip of branch), 稍 (somewhat), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 勺 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 勺 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 勺 with real-time feedback

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

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

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.