划 (huá): to row; to paddle

Meanings

1 to row; to paddle
2 to scratch; to slash; to cut (the surface of)
3 to strike (a match)
4 to be worthwhile; to pay (to do something)

Characters

划

huá

to row; to paddle

Examples

HSK 2

我们去湖上划船吧。

Wǒmen qù hú shàng huáchuán ba.

Let's go rowing on the lake.

HSK 4

整箱买真划算。

Zhěngxiāng mǎi zhēn huásuàn.

Buying by the case is really worthwhile.

HSK 5

玻璃把我的手划破了。

Bōli bǎ wǒ de shǒu huápò le.

A piece of glass scratched my hand open.

Tips

usage

Use huá for stroking actions and the 'worthwhile' sense: 划船 (to row), 划水 (to paddle / to coast / to slack off), 划桨 (to paddle), 划破 (to gash), 划痕 (scratch mark), 划算 (cost-effective), 划得来 (worth it). For planning, demarcating, transferring, switch to the huà reading.

memory

Both readings keep the knife radical 刂. The huà sense is a controlled, planned mark (a magistrate drawing a boundary). The huá sense is a sliding, sweeping motion (an oar pulling through water, a blade gashing skin, a match dragging across a striker). Same blade, different motion.

Components

radical

刂 dāo

knife

Knife radical on the right - the standing form of 刀 with two strokes. The indexing radical, contributing the cutting / dividing meaning. Same radical heads 利 (sharp), 刚 (just), 刻 (carve), 别 (separate). Here knife + dagger-axe yields 'to mark or divide with a blade'.

semantic

戈 gē

dagger-axe

戈 on the left - pictures a hooked dagger-axe. Together with the knife on the right, it puts 划 in the family of cutting/marking tools: scratching a line, drawing a stroke, demarcating a plan. From that came both the stroke-of-a-paddle sense (划船 to row) and the planning sense (计划, 划分).