扩

擴
kuò
verb HSK 7-9 #22,973

Meanings

  1. 1 to enlarge
  2. 2 to expand

Examples

HSK 5
Gōngsī zài kuòdà guīmó.
The company is expanding in scale.
HSK 5
Wǒmen xūyào kuòzhǎn yèwù.
We need to expand our business.

Tips

usage
Common in 扩大 (kuòdà, to enlarge) and 扩展 (kuòzhǎn, to expand).

Components

radical
扌 shǒu
hand (radical form of 手)
Three-stroke hand radical on the left, side form of 手. 扩 means to enlarge, expand, or widen - an action performed by reaching out and pushing the boundary further. The radical anchors 扩 alongside 拉 to pull, 推 to push, 抓 to grasp, 提 to lift.
phonetic
广 guǎng
wide; broad (here phonetic and semantic)
Right side 广 supplies the sound - guǎng shifting to kuò through a regular g/k alternation. 广 also pulls double duty: it depicts a roof spreading wide and means broad. Hand plus broad equals to widen. 扩 is the simplified form of 擴, where 廣 was full-form on the right.

Stroke Order

扩 kuò