舀 (yǎo): to ladle out

Meanings

1 to ladle out
2 to scoop up

Characters

舀

yǎo

to ladle; to scoop

Examples

她用勺子舀了一碗汤。

Tā yòng sháozi yǎo le yī wǎn tāng.

She ladled out a bowl of soup with a spoon.

从桶里舀一瓢水来。

Cóng tǒng lǐ yǎo yī piáo shuǐ lái.

Scoop a ladleful of water from the bucket.

Tips

memory

The character 舀 shows a hand (爪) reaching into a container (臼, a mortar/vessel) to scoop something out — the picture directly illustrates the action of ladling or scooping.

Components

radical

臼 jiù

mortar

Bottom mortar radical, the indexing element — pictograph of a stone mortar with grain-husks heaped along the inner walls. The whole character is a literal scene: a hand reaching down into a mortar to scoop out the contents. From this picture: 'to ladle, to scoop' (舀水, 舀汤). Family: 舂 pound.

semantic

爫 zhǎo

claw; downward-grasping hand

Top claw radical — a hand reaching downward, fingers extended for grasping. The hand that does the scooping. Same family of downward-hand graphs in 采 pluck, 爱 love (originally a hand reaching for the heart), 受 receive — wherever a top hand contacts something below.