拣 (jiǎn) · to pick up; to collect

Meanings

1 to pick up; to collect
2 to choose; to select

Characters

拣

jiǎn

to pick; to select

Examples

HSK 5

她喜欢拣好看的石头。

Tā xǐhuan jiǎn hǎokàn de shítou.

She likes to pick up pretty stones.

HSK 7-9

他在地上拣了一枚硬币。

Tā zài dìshang jiǎn le yī méi yìngbì.

He picked up a coin from the ground.

Tips

usage

拣 overlaps with 捡 (jiǎn, to pick up) and is often interchangeable in modern Chinese. 拣 leans more toward select/choose while 捡 leans toward pick up from the ground.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (left-side radical of 手)

Left hand radical - three-stroke side-form of 手, the indexing radical for verbs of manipulation. In 拣 it grounds the action in physical sorting: the hand reaches in, selects, separates. Same family: 拿 to take, 抓 to grab, 找 to look for, 选 to choose - all hand-driven selection verbs.

phonetic

柬 jiǎn

to select; invitation card

Right is a contracted five-stroke form of 柬 - standalone 柬 has nine strokes; here the bundle-of-bamboo body is squeezed into the same slot. Supplies the sound jiǎn exactly and the meaning: 柬 itself means "to pick out, sift." So 拣 is literally hand-柬, doubled selection.