(táo): to escape, to run away, to flee

(táo) is a Chinese character meaning “to escape.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #995 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, walk. Its radical form (walk) appears in many related characters such as (biān, side), (guò, to pass, past), (hái, still, return).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to escape
  2. to run away
  3. to flee

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwalk

Decomposition: ⿺辶兆 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbtáo pǎoto flee from sth6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
táo zǒuto escape
táo bìto escape
táo tuōto run away
táo líto run out
táo fànescaped criminal
táo wángto flee
táo yìto escape
táo mìngto escape
táo shēngto flee for one's life
zài táoto be at large (of a criminal)
qián táoto abscond
táo bīngarmy deserter
táo wáng zhěrunaway
táo kèto skip class
táo xuéto play truant
69
Total compounds
58
As first character
32
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 69 compound words: 58 as the first character, 32 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

pǎo
0.60345,762 co-occurrences
wáng
0.57066,108 co-occurrences
tuō
0.56221,486 co-occurrences
cuàn
0.5542,418 co-occurrences
0.55033,558 co-occurrences
jiǎo
0.5321,098 co-occurrences
zǒu
0.53045,714 co-occurrences
0.52712,283 co-occurrences
0.49129,940 co-occurrences
pàn
0.46611,238 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

fǎ wǎng nán táoHSK 6+

it is hard to escape the net of justice (idiom)

phrase
línzhèntuōtáoHSK 6+

to irresponsibly flee in the face of danger

phrase
luòhuāng'értáoHSK 7+

to flee after being defeated

phrase
nán táo fǎ wǎngHSK 6+

It is hard to escape the dragnet of the law; the long arm of the law

phrase
qìbǎoqiántáoHSK 6+

to abscond

verb
sǐ lǐ táo shēngHSK 6+

mortal danger, escape alive (idiom); a narrow escape; to survive by the skin of one's teeth

phrase
táo zāi bì nànHSK 6+

to seek refuge from calamities

phrase
wàng fēng ér táoHSK 6+

to flee at the mere sight of (idiom)

phrase
wèi zuì qián táoHSK 7+

to flee to escape punishment; to abscond from justice

phrase
táozhīyāoyāoHSK 6+

to flee; to take to one's heels

verb

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

罪犯试图跑,但被警察及时抓获。

Zuifàn shìtú táopǎo, dàn bèi jǐngchá jíshí zhuāhuò.

The criminal tried to escape but was promptly captured by the police.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

青壯陣亡、人口外 烏克蘭淪「孤兒寡母之國」

qīng 壯 陣 wáng rén kǒu wài táo 烏 kè 蘭 淪 gū 兒 guǎ mǔ zhī 國

Young and able-bodied men killed, population fleeing: Ukraine becomes a "country of orphans and widows."

東森新聞Feb 2026

1.2萬被帶出場!她險遭性侵跑墜樓重傷 男子下場曝

. 萬 bèi 帶 chū 場 ! tā 險 zāo xìng qīn táo pǎo 墜 樓 chóng 傷 nán zǐ xià 場 pù

12,000 yuan seized! Woman narrowly escapes sexual assault, falls from building and suffers serious injuries. Man's fate revealed.

EttodayFeb 2026

...董座開工中彈 槍手變裝+交替換車製造斷點

. . . dǒng zuò 開 gōng zhōng 彈 槍 shǒu 變 裝 jiāo tì 換 車 製 zào 斷 點 táo yì

Chairman Shot During Work Gunman Disguised + Alternated Vehicles to Create Cover for Escape

三立新聞網Feb 2026

北市醫美槍擊案槍手變裝、逸路線曝光

běi shì 醫 měi 槍 擊 àn 槍 shǒu 變 裝 táo yì lù 線 pù guāng

Shooter in Taipei Medical Aesthetics Shooting Disguised and Escape Route Exposed

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...!負責人、2員工中彈 槍手事前勘場再變裝

. . . ! 負 責 rén 員 gōng zhōng 彈 槍 shǒu shì qián kān 場 zài 變 裝 táo yì

...! Manager and two employees shot; gunman scouted location beforehand then escaped in disguise

Tatoeba

你知道为什么他今天课了吗?

Nǐ zhīdào wèishénme tā jīntiān táokè le ma?

Do you know why he skipped class today?

Tatoeba

十名囚犯狱了。

Shí míng qiúfàn táoyù le.

Ten prisoners broke out of jail.

Tatoeba

你为什么总是避这个话题?

Nǐ wèishénme zǒngshì táobì zhège huàtí?

Why do you always avoid that topic?

Tatoeba

他寻找一切可能的生途径。

Tā xúnzhǎo yīqiè kěnéng de táoshēng tújìng.

He looked for every possible means of escape.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced táo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 逃 (táo) mean in Chinese?
逃 (táo) primarily means "to escape." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #995 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 逃 and 跳?
逃 (táo) and 跳 (tiào) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 辶 vs 足 (same 兆 component).
How many strokes does 逃 have?
逃 is written with 9 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 逃?
The radical associated with 逃 is 辶 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 逃?
逃 is composed of: 辶 (semantic), 兆 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺辶兆 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 逃?
Common words with 逃 include: 逃跑 (táo pǎo, "to flee from sth"); 逃走 (táo zǒu, "to escape"); 逃避 (táo bì, "to escape"); 逃脱 (táo tuō, "to run away"); 逃离 (táo lí, "to run out"). There are over 69 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 逃 (táo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation táo: 桃 (peach), 涛 (big wave), 掏 (to fish out (from pocket)), 滔 ((bound form) to inundate), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 逃 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 逃 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

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

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.