拽 (zhuài) · to drag, to pull, to haul

Meanings

1 to drag
2 to pull
3 to haul

Characters

拽

zhuài

to drag; to pull

Examples

HSK 2

她拽着我的手不让我走。

Tā zhuài zhe wǒ de shǒu bù ràng wǒ zǒu.

She grabbed my hand and wouldn't let me leave.

HSK 2

别拽我的衣服！

Bié zhuài wǒ de yīfu!

Don't pull my clothes!

Tips

usage

拽 is more colloquial and forceful than 拉 (to pull). It implies pulling with effort or dragging someone reluctant.

register

Two other readings exist in casual speech. Read zhuāi, the character means to fling or hurl something, as in tossing a ball away. Read zhuǎi, it is a slangy adjective meaning cocky or full of oneself. The standard reading for pull or drag is zhuài.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Left-side hand radical, the indexing radical. Marks 拽 as a hand action: yanking, dragging, hauling something with force. Same family of pulling verbs: 拉 (pull), 扯 (tug), 拖 (drag), 抢 (snatch).

phonetic

曳 yè

to drag; to trail

Right-side 曳 supplies the sound, with yè shifting to zhuài (a notable rime change). 曳 itself means to drag or trail behind and originally pictured a long line being pulled, a tight semantic match with the hauling sense of 拽. Phonetic and meaning align closely here.