逃 (táo) · to escape; to run away

Meanings

1 to escape; to run away
2 to flee; to evade

Characters

逃

táo

to escape; to flee; to run away

Examples

HSK 1

他逃到了国外。

Tā táo dào le guówài.

He fled abroad.

HSK 6

小偷从窗户逃了。

Xiǎotōu cóng chuānghu táo le.

The thief escaped through the window.

HSK 6

你不能一直逃避问题。

Nǐ bùnéng yìzhí táobì wèntí.

You can't keep running away from problems.

Tips

usage

逃 is the core character for "escape/flee." It appears in many compounds: 逃走 (flee), 逃跑 (run away), 逃避 (evade), 逃生 (escape for one's life), 逃课 (skip class).

memory

The 辶 (walk/movement radical) + 兆 (omen) - when you sense a bad omen, you move away quickly.

Components

radical

辶 chuò

walk; movement (radical form)

Walking-radical 辶 (the left-side form of 辵), wraps under and around the right component. It marks 逃 as a verb of motion, alongside 跑 run, 走 walk (different radical), 追 chase, 进 enter. Stroke order places 辶 last even though it sits visually on the left.

phonetic

兆 zhào

omen; trillion

Phonetic - 兆 zhào provides the sound (drifted to táo in 逃). Same phonetic appears in 桃 peach, 跳 jump, 挑 pick, 眺 gaze - all táo/tiào/diào sounds in the same tonal family. The two splayed shapes inside 兆 evoke movement/spreading, faintly resonant with "flee".