抛

拋
pāo
verb HSK 6 #2,727

Meanings

  1. 1 to throw; to toss; to fling
  2. 2 to abandon; to leave behind

Examples

HSK 4
Tā pāo xià yíqiè qù le guówài.
She left everything behind and went abroad.
HSK 5
Tā bǎ qiú pāo xiàng kōngzhōng.
He tossed the ball into the air.
HSK 7-9
Chē zài gāosù gōnglù shàng pāomáo le.
The car broke down on the highway.

Tips

usage
抛锚 literally means 'to drop anchor' but is commonly used for a car breaking down - the idea being you're stuck in place. 抛弃 (to abandon) is the formal word for abandoning someone.

Components

radical
扌 shǒu
hand (radical form)
Left hand radical - simplified 3-stroke form of 手. The indexing radical here. Throwing is a hand action, so the radical is literal. Same radical heads 拿, 打, 抓, 推, 拉 - the family of hand-driven verbs.
semantic
九 jiǔ
nine
Top-right enclosing arc - the simplified residue of phonetic 尥 in the older form 拋. Reads visually as 九, but the 'nine' meaning is not in play; pedagogically just remember it as the hooked arc that wraps around 力 below. Standalone 九 is two strokes (matches what we see here).
semantic
力 lì
strength; force
Bottom-right strength under the arc - a pictograph of a flexed arm or plough handle. Throwing requires force, so the strength radical reinforces the action sense. Same character anchors 加, 努, 助, 男 - the muscle/effort family. Together with 九 above, the right side of 抛 is the simplified replacement for the original phonetic.

Stroke Order

抛 pāo