撩 (liáo): to tease; to flirt with

Meanings

1 to tease; to flirt with
2 to provoke; to stir up (emotions)
3 to lift up (sth hanging down)

Characters

撩

liáo

to tease; to lift

Examples

他很会撩妹。

Tā hěn huì liāo mèi.

He's really good at flirting with girls.

别撩他，他脾气不好。

Bié liáo tā, tā píqi bùhǎo.

Don't provoke him, he has a bad temper.

她撩起裙子过河。

Tā liāo qǐ qúnzi guò hé.

She lifted her skirt to cross the river.

Tips

mistakes

撩 has two pronunciations: liáo = to tease/provoke, liāo = to lift up. Internet slang 撩妹 and 撩汉 mean to flirt with girls/guys.

usage

The modern slang sense of 'to flirt' (撩妹/撩汉) is typically pronounced liāo despite the dictionary reading liáo. Both are widely accepted.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand

The hand radical (left-side form of 手) marks 撩 as a deliberate manual action - lifting curtains, flicking water, or in the modern slang sense, reaching out to provoke someone's feelings. Pairs naturally with 拨, 挑 in flirt-and-tease territory.

phonetic

尞 liào

to burn (literary)

Lends its sound, with the tone shifting from liào to liáo. It heads a phonetic series with 僚, 寮, 疗 and 燎. The flame meaning is incidental, but it gives a nice mnemonic for the kindle-feelings sense of flirting.