淘 (táo): to wash (rice, sand etc in water to remove impurities), to dredge, to scoop out (sediment or waste), (dialect) to hunt for and buy (bargains or second-hand goods)
淘 (táo) is a Chinese character meaning “to wash (rice, sand etc in water to remove impurities).” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 匋 (phonetic). It ranks #2414 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 淘 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- to wash (rice, sand etc in water to remove impurities)
- to dredge
- to scoop out (sediment or waste)
- (dialect) to hunt for and buy (bargains or second-hand goods)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 淘 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 淘
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小淘气 | xiǎo táo qì | rascal |
| 淘汰赛 | táo tài sài | a knockout competition |
| 淘金 | táo jīn | to pan for gold |
| 淘金者 | táo jīn zhě | gold panner |
| 淘金热 | táo jīn rè | gold rush |
| 淘宝网 | táo bǎo wǎng | Taobao Marketplace, a Chinese website for online shopping |
| 淘神 | táo shén | troublesome |
| 海淘 | hǎi táo | online purchase of goods dispatched from overseas |
| 淘金潮 | táo jīn cháo | gold rush |
| 淘选 | táo xuǎn | to decant |
| 淘客 | táo kè | talk (loanword) |
| 淘米 | táo mǐ | to rinse rice |
| 淘宝 | táo bǎo | Taobao, a Chinese online shopping website (abbr. for 淘寶網|淘宝网[Tao2 bao3 Wang3]) |
| 淘河 | táo hé | pelican |
| 末位淘汰 | mò wèi táo tài | sacking the worst-performing employee |
淘 appears in 20 compound words: 85 as the first character, 5 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 淘 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
暴雨过后，淘水上涨，淹没了低洼的街道。
bào yǔ guò hòu , táo shuǐ shǎng zhǎng , yān méi le dī 洼 de jiē dào .
After the downpour, floodwaters rose, submerging the low-lying streets.
玩机器看donk赛事狂砍1.61rt却被淘汰!而ZywOo拿下1.62rt且残局1...
wán jī qì kàn d o n k sài shì kuáng kǎn 1 . 6 1 r t què bèi táo tài ! ér Z y w O o ná xià 1 . 6 2 r t qiě cán jú 1 . . .
I was playing on the bot and dominated the Donk tournament with a 1.61 RT, but still got eliminated! Meanwhile, ZywOo secured a 1.62 RT and won the endgame 1...
气炸!高虹安姊妹淘重轰李贞秀:失去理智
qì zhà ! gāo hóng ān 姊 mèi táo chóng hōng lǐ zhēn xiù : shī qù lǐ zhì
Furious! Gao Hong'an's close friends lash out at Lee Jung-soo again: "She's lost her mind"
...妈妈豪掷10万买金饰送女 深圳水贝逼爆“淘金客”
. . . mā mā háo zhì 1 0 wàn mǎi jīn shì sòng nǚ shēn 圳 shuǐ bèi bī bào táo jīn kè
...Mom Splashes Out 100,000 on Gold Jewelry for Daughter; Shenzhen's Shuibei District Overflowing with "Gold Hunters"
...联16强|阿仙奴胜利华古逊跻身八强 皇马淘汰曼城
. . . lián 1 6 qiáng ā xiān nú shèng lì huá gǔ xùn 跻 shēn bā qiáng huáng mǎ táo tài 曼 chéng
...Champions League Round of 16 | Arsenal Beat West Ham to Advance to the Quarterfinals; Real Madrid Knock Out Manchester City
经典赛》8强无缘登板只能看着日本队遭淘汰!守护神大势:这样不行...
jīng diǎn sài 8 qiáng wú yuán dēng bǎn zhī néng kàn zhe rì běn duì zāo táo tài ! shǒu hù shén dà shì : zhè yàng bù háng . . .
World Baseball Classic: Left Out of the Quarterfinals, Forced to Watch Japan Get Eliminated! Closer Daishi: "This Won't Do..."
我受不了淘气的小孩。
Wǒ shòubùliǎo táoqì de xiǎohái.
I can't stand naughty children.
1848年人们来加利福尼亚淘金。
1848 nián rénmen lái Jiālìfúníyà táojīn.
In 1848, people came to California to dig for gold.
德国被韩国淘汰。
Déguó bèi Hánguó táotài.
Germany was eliminated by South Korea.
淘宝给我推荐了性感又可爱的情趣内衣。
Táo bǎo gěi wǒ tuījiàn le xìnggǎn yòu kě'ài de qíngqù nèiyī.
Taobao suggested sexy and cute lingerie for me.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 淘 (táo) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 淘 and 销?
How many strokes does 淘 have?
What is the radical of 淘?
What are the components of 淘?
What are common words containing 淘?
What characters sound the same as 淘 (táo)?
Is 淘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 淘 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.