跑 (pǎo): to run

Meanings

1 to run
2 to run away; to escape
3 to run around (on errands)
4 to leak; to evaporate
5 away; off

Characters

跑

pǎo

to run

Examples

他跑得很快。

Tā pǎo de hěn kuài.

He runs very fast.

我每天早上去跑步。

Wǒ měitiān zǎoshang qù pǎobù.

I go jogging every morning.

快点，小偷跑了！

Kuài diǎn, xiǎotōu pǎo le!

Hurry up, the thief got away!

煤气跑了，快关阀门。

Méiqì pǎo le, kuài guān fámén.

The gas is leaking — shut the valve quickly.

Tips

grammar

As a verb complement, 跑 means 'away/off' after another verb: 赶跑 (drive away), 吓跑 (scare off), 逃跑 (flee). The main verb sets the manner; 跑 carries the result of leaving.

usage

Beyond running, 跑 covers any fast on-foot movement and even leakage: gas, water, or air escaping a container 跑s out. 跑步 specifically means jogging as exercise; bare 跑 is the general verb.

culture

Rare second reading páo means 'an animal pawing the ground' and is essentially literary — but it survives in one famous place name: 虎跑泉 (Tiger-Pawing Spring) in Hangzhou, said to have been pawed open by tigers and now prized as one of the three top spring waters for brewing Longjing tea. If you see 虎跑 on a tea label, read páo.

Components

radical

足 zú

foot (radical form)

Left foot radical — indexing radical for 跑. Pictographically 口 (knee/calf) over 止 (footprint), the full leg-and-foot graph. As left-side radical 足 takes a slightly squared form. Anchors 跑 in the foot-motion family alongside 跳 (jump), 踢 (kick), 路 (road), 跟 (follow). All members are things done with feet.

phonetic

包 bāo

wrap; bundle

Right phonetic 包 — supplies the sound (bāo → pǎo, with labial-shift drift; the bāo/pǎo/páo family is well-attested, including 抱, 饱, 炮, 袍). Itself the picture of a fetus wrapped in the womb. Carries no semantic role here, just the sound — your feet (足) carry you with the speed of bāo / pǎo running.