揩

kāi
verb #29,096

Meanings

  1. 1 to wipe
  2. 2 to rub clean

Examples

HSK 7-9
Tā yòng shǒupà kāi le kāi étóu shàng de hàn.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
HSK 7-9
Bié yòng xiùzi kāi zuǐ, yòng cānjīnzhǐ.
Don't wipe your mouth on your sleeve - use a napkin.

Tips

usage
揩 is more colloquial and physical than 擦 (cā), both meaning 'to wipe'. 揩油 (kāiyóu) is an idiom meaning 'to take advantage of someone' - literally 'to wipe off the oil'.

Components

radical
扌 shǒu
hand
扌 is the left-side form of 手 (hand). Wiping is something hands do - 揩 sits in the manual-action family with 擦 (rub), 抹 (smear), 拭 (wipe), 擢 (pluck). The hand radical immediately flags this as a verb of physical contact.
phonetic
皆 jiē
all; everyone
皆 (jiē) supplies the sound, drifted to kāi. No semantic contribution - the meaning sits entirely with the hand radical. Same phonetic series: 楷 (model script), 阶 (step), 谐 (harmony) - all kāi or jiē pronunciations.

Stroke Order

揩 kāi