淘 (táo): to wash (rice, sand)

Meanings

1 to wash (rice, sand)
2 to dredge
3 to hunt for bargains
4 naughty

Characters

淘

táo

to wash; to dredge; to hunt for

Examples

做饭前要先淘米。

Zuòfàn qián yào xiān táo mǐ.

You need to wash the rice before cooking.

她喜欢在网上淘便宜货。

Tā xǐhuān zài wǎngshàng táo piányíhuò.

She likes to hunt for bargains online.

这孩子真淘气。

Zhè háizi zhēn táoqì.

This kid is really naughty.

Tips

culture

淘宝 (Taobao), China's biggest online marketplace, literally means 'hunt for treasure' — 淘 (hunt for) + 宝 (treasure).

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form of 水)

Three-drops water radical on the left, the side form of 水. Indexes 淘 in the water-action family alongside 洗 to wash, 流 to flow, 浪 wave. Carries the meaning: 淘 originally meant to rinse rice or sift gold in flowing water, separating the wanted from the unwanted by current.

phonetic

匋 táo

pottery (here phonetic)

Right side 匋 supplies the sound directly — táo to táo, identical. 匋 is the archaic graph for pottery, showing a person bent over a kiln; this same phonetic lives on inside 陶 pottery and 萄 grape. Borrowed for sound, though the bent-figure imagery faintly suits the squat-and-rinse motion of panning.