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索

suǒ
verb #4,401

Meanings

  1. 1 to search
  2. 2 to demand
  3. 3 rope
  4. 4 isolated

Examples

HSK 3
警察找到了一条重要的线索。
Jǐngchá zhǎodào le yī tiáo zhòngyào de xiànsuǒ.
The police found an important clue.
HSK 4
请查一下书后面的索引。
Qǐng chá yīxià shū hòumiàn de suǒyǐn.
Please check the index at the back of the book.
HSK 5
我在网上搜索资料。
Wǒ zài wǎngshàng sōusuǒ zīliào.
I am searching online for information.

Tips

memory
糸 (silk) at the bottom - following a thread to search.

Components

radical
糸 mì
silk; thread
Bottom silk-radical 糸 (full form, not contracted 纟) - the indexing radical. 索 originally meant a thick rope made by twisting fibre strands together. From 'rope' came the metaphorical sense: following a thread to find something (search, demand). Hence 搜索 (search), 线索 (clue, lit. 'line-thread'), 索引 (index).
semantic
十 shí
ten; crossed strands
Standalone 十 has only 2 strokes (一+丨); in 索 the top is 4 strokes - the residue of the fibre-stripping graph compressed into a 十-like silhouette. Sets up the rope-making picture that the bottom silk-radical completes.

Stroke Order

索 suǒ