淘 (táo) is a Chinese character meaning “to wash in a sieve or pan (rice, sand for gold)”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 匋 (earthenware; pottery (a wrap 勹 around a vessel 缶)), side by side, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “to wash out; to weed out”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
氵 + 匋
Left–right structure
- 氵 water (left-side form) · shuǐ meaning
- 匋 earthenware; pottery (a wrap 勹 around a vessel 缶) · táo sound
Structure from: IDS (cjkvi-ids, build-time only): ⿰氵匋; makemeahanzi (build-time only): pictophonetic, semantic 氵, phonetic 匋; checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke counts 氵3 + 匋8 = 11
Memory aid
Water (氵) swirls through an earthenware pot (匋) to wash out the sand and keep what is good. 匋 also gives the sound: táo.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 淘汰táo tàito eliminate; to weed out淘 = táo
- 淘气táo qìnaughty; mischievous淘 = táo
- 淘汰赛táo tài sàiknockout round; elimination match淘 = táo
Go deeper
All readings
to wash out; to weed out; naughty
to wash in a sieve or pan (rice, sand for gold); to weed out; to dredge; naughty
用水冲洗去掉杂质，如淘米、淘金；去掉不好的；疏浚；顽皮。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 淘汰táo tàito eliminate; to weed out淘 = táo
- 淘气táo qìnaughty; mischievous淘 = táo
- 淘汰赛táo tài sàiknockout round; elimination match淘 = táo
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 淘 mean?
淘 (táo) means to wash in a sieve or pan (rice, sand for gold); to weed out; to dredge; naughty.
How do you pronounce 淘?
It is pronounced táo.
What parts is 淘 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 匋 (earthenware; pottery (a wrap 勹 around a vessel 缶)), side by side. The recorded source is: IDS (cjkvi-ids, build-time only): ⿰氵匋; makemeahanzi (build-time only): pictophonetic, semantic 氵, phonetic 匋; checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke counts 氵3 + 匋8 = 11. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 淘 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 淘?
氵. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 淘?
Common ones are 淘汰 and 淘气. The reading of 淘 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.