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

小偷从窗户逃了。

Xiǎotōu cóng chuānghu táo le.

The thief escaped through the window.

你不能一直逃避问题。

Nǐ bùnéng yīzhí táobì wèntí.

You can't keep running away from problems.

他逃到了国外。

Tā táo dào le guówài.

He fled abroad.

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".