插 (chā) · to insert; to stick in

Meanings

1 to insert; to stick in
2 to interpose; to cut in (a conversation)

Characters

插

chā

to insert; to stick in

扌(hand) + right component - inserting something with the hand

Examples

HSK 3

别插嘴，让他说完。

Bié chāzuǐ, ràng tā shuō wán.

Don't interrupt, let him finish.

HSK 5

把钥匙插进锁里。

Bǎ yàoshi chājìn suǒ lǐ.

Insert the key into the lock.

HSK 6

花瓶里插着几朵花。

Huāpíng lǐ chā zhe jǐ duǒ huā.

A few flowers are arranged in the vase.

Tips

usage

插嘴 (chāzuǐ) = to interrupt/cut into a conversation (literally 'insert mouth'). 插队 (chāduì) = to cut in line - very frowned upon!

memory

The hand radical 扌 on the left shows it's an action done with the hand - sticking something in.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Hand radical on the left marks 插 as a hands-on action - pushing, sticking, plugging in. It indexes 插 alongside 拔 to pull out, 推 to push, 抓 to grasp. Without the hand, the right side is just a graph of pestle-in-mortar; with the hand, it becomes the act of inserting one thing into another.

phonetic

臿 chā

pestle into mortar

Right is 臿, supplying the sound exactly: chā matches chā. It pictures a pestle being driven down into a mortar - the very image of inserting something forcefully. The semantic match is so close that 插 nearly reads as 'hand-driven pestle into mortar' = to insert. Same phonetic in 锸 (a kind of spade) and 鍤 (variant).