掏 (tāo): to fish out (from pocket), to scoop
掏 (tāo) is a Chinese character meaning “to fish out (from pocket).” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 匋 (phonetic). It ranks #2167 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 掏 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 fish out (from pocket)
- to scoop
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 掏 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 掏钱 | tāo qián | to pay |
| 掏空 | tāo kōng | to hollow out |
| 掏腰包 | tāo yāo bāo | to dip into one's pocket |
| 自掏腰包 | zì tāo yāo bāo | to pay out of one's own pocket |
| 掏出 | tāo chū | to fish out |
| 掏包 | tāo bāo | to pick pockets |
| 掏耳 | tāo ěr | to remove earwax with an ear pick |
| 掏心掏肺 | tāo xīn tāo fèi | to be totally devoted (to a person) |
| 掏耳勺 | tāo ěr sháo | ear pick |
掏 appears in 9 compound words: 89 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 11 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 掏 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
他掏了一个电话，约朋友晚上一起吃饭。
tā tāo le yī gě diàn huà , yāo péng yǒu wǎn shǎng yī qǐ chī fàn .
He pulled out his phone and made plans to meet a friend for dinner that evening.
音乐节上男子单膝跪地求婚 下一秒女友也掏出戒指
yīn lè jié shàng nán zǐ dān xī guì dì qiú hūn xià yī miǎo nǚ yǒu yě tāo chū jiè zhǐ
At a music festival, a man got down on one knee to propose—and the next moment, his girlfriend pulled out a ring too
AI霸总掏空84岁奶奶钱包 她写500字情书、还要...
A I bà zǒng tāo kōng 8 4 suì nǎi nǎi qián bāo tā xiě 5 0 0 zì qíng shū , hái yāo . . .
AI Tycoon Empties 84-Year-Old Grandmother’s Wallet; She Writes a 500-Word Love Letter and Demands...
徐若瑄51岁生日收惊喜!10岁儿掏存钱筒“买戒指送妈妈”
xú ruò 瑄 5 1 suì shēng rì shōu jīng xǐ ! 1 0 suì ér tāo cún qián tǒng mǎi jiè zhǐ sòng mā mā
Vicky Hsu Receives a Surprise on Her 51st Birthday! Her 10-Year-Old Son Empties His Piggy Bank to "Buy a Ring for Mom"
.../台二线瑞芳86.5K自来水爆管 “路面掏空”双向全封闭
. . . tái èr xiàn ruì fāng 8 6 . 5 K zì lái shuǐ bào guǎn lù miàn tāo kōng shuāng xiàng quán fēng bì
.../Water main burst at the 86.5K mark on Provincial Highway No. 2 in Ruifang; "road surface caved in," resulting in a complete closure in both directions
习掏空香港!42年首次动用外汇基金6千亿 港...
xí tāo kōng xiāng gǎng ! 4 2 nián shǒu cì dòng yòng wài huì jī jīn 6 qiān yì gǎng . . .
Xi hollowed out Hong Kong! For the first time in 42 years, the exchange fund of 600 billion Hong Kong dollars was used...
男子从口袋中掏出枪，吓了我一跳。
Nánzǐ cóng kǒudài zhōng tāochū qiāng, xià le wǒ yī tiào.
To my horror, the man took a gun out of his pocket.
汤姆掏出钥匙开了门。
Tāngmǔ tāochū yàoshi kāi le mén.
Tom took out his key and opened the door.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 掏 (tāo) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 掏 have?
What is the radical of 掏?
What are the components of 掏?
What are common words containing 掏?
What characters sound the same as 掏 (tāo)?
Is 掏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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