qiāo
noun #37,840

Measure Word

一把

Meanings

  1. 1 shovel; spade

Examples

Tā náqǐ yìbǎ tiěqiāo wā tǔ.
He picked up an iron shovel and dug.
Qǐng bǎ nà bǎ qiāo dìgěi wǒ.
Please pass me that shovel.

Tips

usage
is most often seen in the compound 铁锹 (tiěqiāo, 'iron shovel') — that's the everyday word for a shovel. Standalone also names the stag beetle (锹甲 qiāojiǎ) because of its shovel-like jaws.

Components

radical
jīn
metal (radical form of 金)
Left-side metal radical, the side form of . Indexes in the iron-tool family alongside saw, pot, hoe. A spade is a metal blade hafted to a wooden handle — the radical names what does the digging, the steel edge that bites into soil.
phonetic
qiū
autumn (here phonetic)
Right side supplies the sound: qiū to qiāo with vowel and tone shift. itself shows ripening grain beside fire, an autumn-harvest picture — but that imagery doesn't transfer. Borrowed purely for sound, although harvest season is when spades come out to turn the fields, which is a happy coincidence.

Stroke Order

qiāo