Language/Mandarin-chinese/Vocabulary/把-bă-take,-hold

把 bă take, hold in Mandarin Chinese

Definition

Radical is 手 shŏu “hand”, which here is closely related to the character’s meaning of “take” or “hold.” The radical 手 at the left side of a character is written as 扌 and is referred to colloquially as 提手 tíshŏu “raised hand.” Phonetic is 巴 bā “long for,” which you saw previously in 吧 ba (89) and 爸 bà. Distinguish 把 from 吧 and 爸.

Examples

• 把 bă (measure for things with handles such as umbrellas and knives, and for chairs) [M]; take, hold (moves object before verb) [CV]
• 把书放在桌子上 (把書放在桌子上) bă shū fàngzai zhuōzishang put the book on the table

Sources

Book: Intermediate Written Chinese by Cornelius C. Kubler

Other Lessons

• Fruits
• 望(望) wàng hope; watch
• 认(認) rèn recognize; know; admit
• 弓 gōng
• 入 rù enter
• Months of the Year
• 危 wēi, wéi danger
• 绩(績) jī achievement, accomplishment; merit
• Chemical elements
• 志 zhì aspiration; ideal
• 假 jià vacation, leave jiă false; if
• Introducing Each Other (Business vocabulary)
• 山 shān
• 被 bèi quilt; by (indicates passive)
• 检(檢) jiăn examine