脱 (tuō): to shed, to take off, to escape

脱 (tuō) is a Chinese character meaning “to shed.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (semantic) and 兑 (phonetic). It ranks #943 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 脱 flesh. Its radical form 肉 (meat) appears in many related characters such as 肉 (ròu, meat), 能 (néng, can), 背 (bèi, the back of a body or object).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to shed
  2. to take off
  3. to escape

Etymology & Origin

脱

pictophoneticflesh

Decomposition: ⿰⺼兑 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 脱

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
摆脱verbbǎi tuōto break away from6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
逃脱verbtáo tuōto run away
脱离verbtuō líto separate oneself from
脱衣舞nountuō yī wǔstriptease
解脱verbjiě tuōto untie
脱身verbtuō shēnto get away
脱光verbtuō guāngto strip naked
脱水verbtuō shuǐto dry out
脱颖而出phrasetuō yǐng ér chūto reveal one's talent (idiom)
挣脱verbzhèng tuōto throw off
开脱verbkāi tuōto exculpate
脱落verbtuō luòto drop off
品脱measurepǐn tuōpint (approx. 0.47 liter) (loanword)
脱脂verbtuō zhīto remove fat
脱逃verbtuō táoto run away
脱臼verbtuō jiùdislocation (of a joint)
104
Total compounds
81
As first character
18
As last character
1
As middle character

脱 appears in 104 compound words: 81 as the first character, 18 as the last, and 1 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 脱 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

摆bǎi
0.6866,269 co-occurrences
离lí
0.62016,700 co-occurrences
逃táo
0.5547,162 co-occurrences
挣zhèng
0.551528 co-occurrences
贫pín
0.5472,024 co-occurrences
靶bǎ
0.5381,110 co-occurrences
侥jiǎo
0.534216 co-occurrences
颖yǐng
0.5121,341 co-occurrences
钩gōu
0.509533 co-occurrences
洒sǎ
0.472272 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

发脱口齿fā tuō kǒu chǐHSK 5+

diction; enunciation

phrase
金蝉脱壳jīnchántuōqiào

to be able to escape from a (normally sticky) situation without other pertinent parties noticing it

phrase
临阵脱逃línzhèntuōtáoHSK 6+

to irresponsibly flee in the face of danger

phrase
脱口而出tuō kǒu ér chūHSK 4+

(idiom) to blurt out; to let slip (an indiscreet remark)

phrase
脱胎换骨tuōtāihuàngǔHSK 7+

to completely reform oneself

phrase
脱氧核糖tuōyǎng hétángHSK 6+

deoxyribose; semen

noun
脱颖而出tuōyǐng'érchūHSK 6+

to be revealed; to come to the fore; to rise above others

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

进屋请脱鞋,保持室内清洁。

Jìn wū qǐng tuō xié, bǎochí shìnèi qīngjié.

Please take off your shoes when entering; keep the interior clean.

NewsFeb 2026

王传一挑战相声脱口秀 与朱德刚搭档登台倒数

wáng chuán yī tiāo zhàn xiāng shēng tuō kǒu xiù yǔ zhū dé gāng dā dàng dēng tái dǎo shǔ

Wang Chuanyi challenged the cross talk show and partnered with Zhu Degang on stage to count down

NewsFeb 2026

为何黄国昌脱口“加入李四川”?他酸呛:从头到尾只想到...

wéi hé huáng guó chāng tuō kǒu jiā rù lǐ sì chuān ? tā suān qiàng cóng tóu dào wěi zhī xiǎng dào . . .

Why did Huang Guochang blurt out "join Li Sichuan"? He choked sourly: From beginning to end, I only thought...

NewsFeb 2026

汪小菲过年带子逛饶河夜市 脱口“台湾”赶紧加“中国”

wāng xiǎo 菲 guò nián dài zǐ guàng ráo hé yè shì tuō kǒu tái wān gǎn jǐn jiā zhōng guó

Wang Xiaofei took his son to Raohe Night Market during the Lunar New Year and blurted out "Taiwan," quickly adding "China."

NewsFeb 2026

上水粉锦公路3狗疑被虐待 1狗尾巴几乎甩脱

shàng shuǐ fěn jǐn gōng lù gǒu yí bèi nüè dài gǒu wěi bā jī hū shuǎi tuō

Three dogs suspected of abuse on Shui Po Kam Road; one dog's tail nearly torn off

NewsFeb 2026

童言无忌威力强!萌娃拜年脱口“祝爷爷奶奶早生贵子” 全网笑翻

tóng yán wú jì wēi lì qiáng ! méng wá bài nián tuō kǒu zhù yé yé nǎi nǎi zǎo shēng guì zǐ quán wǎng xiào fān

Children's words pack a punch! Adorable toddler's New Year's wish: "May Grandpa and Grandma have a baby soon!" Leaves the entire internet in stitches.

Tatoeba

阿尔及利亚需要摆脱官僚主义。

ā'ěrjílìyà xūyào bǎituō guānliáozhǔyì.

Algeria needs to get rid of its bureaucracy.

Tatoeba

汤姆和玛丽脱离了危险。

Tāngmǔ hé Mǎlì tuōlí le wēixiǎn.

Tom and Mary are out of danger.

Tatoeba

他让人们摆脱了奴役。

Tā ràng rénmen bǎituō le núyì.

He liberated the people from bondage.

Tatoeba

死是唯一的解脱吗?

Sǐ shì wéiyī de jiětuō ma?

Is death the only release?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the ⺼ (flesh) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced tuō

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 脱 (tuō) mean in Chinese?
脱 (tuō) primarily means "to shed." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #943 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 脱 and 说?
脱 (tuō) and 说 (shuō) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 肉 vs 讠 (same 兑 component).
How many strokes does 脱 have?
脱 is written with 11 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 脱?
The radical associated with 脱 is 肉 (meat). This radical appears in many characters related to meat.
What are the components of 脱?
脱 is composed of: ⺼ (semantic), 兑 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼兑 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 脱?
Common words with 脱 include: 摆脱 (bǎi tuō, "to break away from"); 逃脱 (táo tuō, "to run away"); 脱离 (tuō lí, "to separate oneself from"); 脱衣舞 (tuō yī wǔ, "striptease"); 解脱 (jiě tuō, "to untie"). There are over 104 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 脱 (tuō)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tuō: 托 (to hold up in one's hand), 拖 (to drag), 妥 (suitable), 拓 (to make a rubbing (e.g. of an inscription)), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 脱 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 脱 and the traditional form is 脫.

Practice writing 脱 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.