抓 (zhuā): to grab; to seize

Meanings

1 to grab; to seize
2 to catch; to arrest
3 to scratch

Characters

抓

zhuā

to grab; to catch; to scratch

Contains the hand radical 扌, as grabbing is a hand action.

Examples

HSK 1

他抓起书包就跑。

Tā zhuāqǐ shūbāo jiù pǎo.

He grabbed his backpack and ran.

HSK 2

猫抓了我一下。

Māo zhuā le wǒ yīxià.

The cat scratched me.

HSK 5

警察抓住了小偷。

Jǐngchá zhuāzhù le xiǎotōu.

The police caught the thief.

Tips

usage

抓紧 means 'to hold tight' or 'to hurry up': 抓紧时间 (make the most of your time). 抓住 means 'to grab hold of' or 'to capture.'

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical, left-side form of 手)

Left hand radical - the side-form of 手. Anchors 抓 as a hand action: grabbing, scratching, snatching are all done with the fingers. Same radical fronts the entire manipulation-verb family - 拉 to pull, 拿 to take, 推 to push, 扯 to tug - making 抓 instantly readable as 'hand-action.'

phonetic

爪 zhǎo

claw (phonetic + semantic)

Right side 爪 - claw, talon. Supplies the sound (zhǎo close to zhuā) and a vivid bonus image: the fingers as a claw closing on prey. So 抓 reads naturally as 'hand acting like a claw' = grasp. A textbook case where the phonetic also pulls full semantic weight.