找 (zhǎo) · to look for, to find, to give change

Meanings

1 to look for
2 to find
3 to give change

Characters

找

zhǎo

to look for; to find

Hand radical 扌 + 戈 (halberd) - reaching out with a tool to search.

Examples

HSK 1

你在找什么？

Nǐ zài zhǎo shénme?

What are you looking for?

HSK 1

我找到了！

Wǒ zhǎodào le!

I found it!

HSK 1

请找我五块钱。

Qǐng zhǎo wǒ wǔ kuài qián.

Please give me five yuan in change.

Tips

usage

找 alone means 'to look for.' Add 到 to mean 'found': 我找他 (I'm looking for him) vs 我找到他了 (I found him).

usage

In shops, 找钱 means 'to give change.' 找你三块 means 'here's three yuan change for you.'

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand

Hand radical on the left - the standing form of 手. Supplies meaning: 找 is fundamentally a hand-action - searching, groping for something, picking through a pile until you find it. Same radical anchors 抓 (grab), 拉 (pull), 推 (push), 摸 (touch) and many other physical-search verbs.

semantic

戈 gē

dagger-axe

戈 on the right - pictures a hooked dagger-axe. In modern 找 it carries no clear sound or meaning role; one common analysis treats it as a late graphic variant of 戔. Best learned as the fixed shape that distinguishes 找 from its cousins 戏, 我, 戒. The sound zhǎo is largely conventional today.