瓢 (piáo): dipper

Measure Word

一把瓢 bǎ

Meanings

1 dipper
2 ladle (made from a gourd)
3 gourd

Characters

瓢

piáo

gourd ladle

Examples

她用瓢从水缸里舀水。

Tā yòng piáo cóng shuǐ gāng lǐ yǎo shuǐ.

She used a dipper to scoop water from the jar.

外面下着瓢泼大雨。

Wàimiàn xià zhe piáopōdàyǔ.

It's pouring rain outside (literally 'rain like dumped from a gourd ladle').

Tips

memory

A 瓢 is the wooden dipper traditionally made by halving and drying a 葫芦 (gourd). The radical 瓜 (melon / gourd) on the right makes the origin obvious. Famous in 一箪食一瓢饮 — Confucius praising Yan Hui for living happily on 'one basket of rice and one gourd of water.'

Components

radical

瓜 guā

melon; gourd

Melon radical on the right — the indexing radical, pictograph of a gourd hanging from a vine. It carries the literal meaning: a 瓢 is a ladle made by halving a dried bottle-gourd and scraping it hollow. Same radical heads 瓤 (pulp), 瓣 (petal/segment), 瓜 itself.

phonetic

票 piào

ticket; flutter (here phonetic)

Left side 票 supplies the sound piào → piáo with tone shift. 票 originally pictured flames flickering up (火 over 覀) and meant 'light, floating, drifting' — a faint visual fit for a dipper bobbing on the water of a basin. Same phonetic anchors 漂 (drift), 飘 (flutter), 嫖 (frequent prostitutes).