Chinese Character Wiki
取

qǔ

take

Pictograph of a hand (又) grabbing an ear (耳). In ancient China, the ears of opponents in battle were cut off and collected as tokens of victory.

Components
耳 iconic component

耳  Iconic component

ěr

  

ear

又 iconic component

又  Iconic component

yòu

  

(hand), again

Evolution

取 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
取 Bronze script Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)
取 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
取 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
取 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

取  

qǔ

take, receive, obtain; select; to take; to get; to choose; to fetch

Most common words with 取
Freq.
Word
Meaning

取

to take

取得

to acquire

采取

to take

取消

to cancel

争取

to fight for

Component uses

Meaning component in 4 characters (1 verified)

娶 诹 鯫 鲰

Sound component in 10 characters (5 verified)

㝡 最 趣 聚 娶 叢 诹 陬 冣 齱

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*tsʰˤoʔ

tshuwX

cǒu

take

*tsʰoʔ

tshjuX

qǔ

take

*[ts]ʰoʔ-s

tshjuH

qù

take (a wife)


Statistics

HSK level 2

Appears in 73.4903% of movies

535th most common character in movies

323rd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

8

Unicode

U+53D6

Shuowen

“取，捕取也。从又，从耳。《周禮》：‘獲者取左耳。’《司馬法》曰：‘載獻聝。’聝者，耳也。”


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