揪 (jiū): to grab; to seize

Meanings

1 to grab; to seize
2 to pull; to tug

Characters

揪

jiū

to grab; to seize

To grab or seize something tightly, often pulling.

Examples

HSK 2

别揪我的头发！

Bié jiū wǒ de tóufa!

Don't pull my hair!

HSK 5

妈妈揪了一下他的耳朵。

Māma jiū le yīxià tā de ěrduo.

Mom gave his ear a tug.

HSK 7-9

她揪住了他的衣领。

Tā jiū zhù le tā de yīlǐng.

She grabbed him by the collar.

Tips

usage

揪 implies a sudden, tight grip, often with a pulling motion. Common collocations: 揪住 (grab and hold), 揪心 (heart-wrenching, agonizing).

memory

The hand radical 扌 shows it's a hand action. Think of a hand reaching out to grab (揪) something quickly.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Side-hand radical on the left - flags 揪 as a hand-action verb in the grab-and-tug family (抓 grab, 拉 pull, 拽 yank, 扯 tear). 揪 specifies the sharp, sustained grab: clutching hair, grabbing a collar, pinching skin. Sets up forceful motion the moment you see it.

phonetic

秋 qiū

autumn (here phonetic)

Right 秋 supplies the sound - qiū → jiū via q/j palatalization, both alveolo-palatal initials. The 'autumn' meaning of 秋 (grain + fire, harvest burning) is irrelevant. Same phonetic in 锹 (shovel) and 鞦 (swing's traditional form); 揪 keeps the qiu reading with the initial palatalized.