chuāi / chuǎi
verb HSK 7-9 #14,215

Meanings

  1. 1 to tuck into one's clothes
  2. 2 to carry inside a pocket or bosom

Examples

Tā bǎ shǒu chuāi zài kǒudài lǐ.
He tucked his hands into his pockets.
Tā bǎ xìn chuāi jìn le huáilǐ.
She tucked the letter into her bosom.

Tips

mistakes
The character has two everyday readings. As chuāi it means to tuck something into your clothes; as chuǎi it means to guess or size up, as in 揣测 and 揣摩. A third reading, chuài, survives only in a few rare bound words.

Components

radical
shǒu
hand
is the left-side form of (hand). is a verb of doing something with the hand: slipping an object into a pocket, or by extension weighing and guessing intent. The hand radical anchors all of these tactile senses.
phonetic
duān
sprout tip; beginning
supplies the sound, drifted to chuāi. It is the older ancestor of modern (end; tip), drawn as a sprout with roots. Same phonetic family: extremity, to pant, rapids.

Stroke Order

chuāi