tōu
verb HSK 5 #597

Meanings

  1. 1 to steal
  2. 2 to pilfer
  3. 3 stealthily; secretly

Examples

HSK 2
Yǒurén tōu le wǒ de shǒujī.
Someone stole my phone.
HSK 4
Xiǎo māo tōuchī le zhuōshàng de yú.
The kitten secretly ate the fish on the table.
HSK 7-9
Tā tōutōu de kàn le tā yīyǎn.
He stealthily glanced at her.

Tips

usage
can be "to steal" (东西) or "secretly" as an adverb ( = to peek, = to eavesdrop, = to laugh secretly).
culture
偷鸡不成蚀把米 - "Failed to steal a chicken and lost the rice used as bait." Means a scheme that backfires.

Components

radical
rén
person (left-side radical form of 人)
Left is the person radical, the standing side-form of - a slim two-stroke human leaning into the right side. Anchors as a human social act: stealing is something people do to each other. The radical also threads through benevolent and trust, giving a faintly ironic placement in the family of moral-conduct chars.
phonetic
yes; assent; transport (here phonetic)
Right supplies the sound - yú shifting to tōu through significant Old Chinese drift. The -phonetic series shows wide variation: shū transport, yú happy, yù to instruct, yù metaphor - all share the same right-side. Pure phonetic role; 's classical "agree, transport" meanings don't contribute to "steal".

Stroke Order

tōu