揪 (jiū): to grab; to seize

Meanings

1 to grab; to seize
2 to pull; to tug

Characters

揪

jiū

to grab; to seize

To grab or seize something tightly, often pulling.

Examples

她揪住了他的衣领。

Tā jiū zhù le tā de yīlǐng.

She grabbed him by the collar.

妈妈揪了一下他的耳朵。

Māma jiū le yīxià tā de ěrduo.

Mom gave his ear a tug.

别揪我的头发！

Bié jiū wǒ de tóufa!

Don't pull my hair!

Tips

usage

揪 implies a sudden, tight grip, often with a pulling motion. Common collocations: 揪住 (grab and hold), 揪心 (heart-wrenching, agonizing).

memory

The hand radical 扌 shows it's a hand action. Think of a hand reaching out to grab (揪) something quickly.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Side-hand radical on the left — flags 揪 as a hand-action verb in the grab-and-tug family (抓 grab, 拉 pull, 拽 yank, 扯 tear). 揪 specifies the sharp, sustained grab: clutching hair, grabbing a collar, pinching skin. Sets up forceful motion the moment you see it.

phonetic

秋 qiū

autumn (here phonetic)

Right 秋 supplies the sound — qiū → jiū via q/j palatalization, both alveolo-palatal initials. The 'autumn' meaning of 秋 (grain + fire, harvest burning) is irrelevant. Same phonetic in 锹 (shovel) and 鞦 (swing's traditional form); 揪 keeps the qiu reading with the initial palatalized.