Chinese Character Wiki
爪

zhǎo, zhuǎ

hand, claw

Pictograph of a hand or claw pointing downwards.

Evolution

爪 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
爪 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
爪 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
爪 Clerical script Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
爪 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

爪  

zhǎo

claw, nail, talon; animal feet; foot of a bird or animal; paw; claws; talons

爪  

zhuǎ

(coll.) foot of an animal or bird; (coll.) foot supporting a cooking pot etc

Most common words with 爪
Freq.
Word
Meaning

爪

paw

爪子

(animal's) claw

魔爪

claws

爪牙

pawn

张牙舞爪

to bare fangs and brandish claws (idiom); to make threatening gestures

Component uses

Meaning component in 2 characters (2 verified)

抓 爬

Sound component in 2 characters (1 verified)

抓 笊

Iconic component in 3 characters (3 verified)

色 争 印

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[ts]ˤ<r>uʔ

tsraewX

zhǎo

claw


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 5.5422% of movies

2299th most common character in movies

2363rd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

4

Unicode

U+722A

Shuowen

“爪，也。覆手曰爪，象形。”


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