sāo
verb #21,390

Meanings

  1. 1 to scratch (an itch)
  2. 2 to claw at

Examples

Tā sāo le sāo tóu, xiǎng bù chū dá'àn.
He scratched his head, unable to think of an answer.
Wénzi yǎo le, rěn zhù bié sāo.
You've been bitten by a mosquito - try not to scratch it.

Tips

usage
specifically means to scratch (an itch) with the fingers. The compound 搔痒 means to scratch an itch, and 隔靴搔痒 (to scratch an itch through the boot) is an idiom for failing to address the real problem.

Components

radical
shǒu
hand (radical form of 手)
Three-stroke hand radical on the left - side form of , signalling that belongs to the manual-action family alongside hit, pull, push, grab. Scratching is a hand-led action, so the radical does straightforward semantic duty here.
phonetic
zǎo
flea
Right side supplies the sound - zǎo drifting to sāo, a regular z/s alternation. The flea imagery is a happy accident: fleabites are exactly the itch a scratching hand answers, so phonetic and meaning reinforce each other beautifully here.

Stroke Order

sāo