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

我们去湖上划船吧。

Wǒmen qù hú shàng huáchuán ba.

Let's go rowing on the lake.

整箱买真划算。

Zhěngxiāng mǎi zhēn huásuàn.

Buying by the case is really worthwhile.

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).