拿 ná — to take, to hold, to pick up; to seize, to capture; with, using (as a preposition)
ná (second tone, rising)
to take, to hold, to pick up; to seize, to capture; with, using (as a preposition)
10 strokesRadical 手Frequency #427
Pinyin
- ná (second tone, rising)
to take, to hold, to pick up; to seize, to capture; with, using (as a preposition)
Character breakdown
Ideographic description
⿱合手The sequence reads left to right and describes how the parts are arranged.
- 合meaning partno entry yet合 "to close, to bring together": a lid coming down on a vessel.
- 手meaning partThe hand, written full underneath rather than as 扌.
Mnemonic
Closing 合 over a hand 手: the fingers shutting on something. It is a late character and reads exactly as it looks. Two things to note: 拿 is for things you can pick up — you do not 拿 a person — and it works as a preposition of instrument, 拿筷子吃饭, to eat with chopsticks.
A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.
Words containing 拿
- 拿ná (second tone, rising)to take, to hold, to pick up (in the hand)
- 拿到ná (second tone, rising) dào (fourth tone, falling)to get
- 拿走ná (second tone, rising) zǒu (third tone, dipping)to take away
- 拿手ná (second tone, rising) shǒu (third tone, dipping)expert in
- 拿出ná (second tone, rising) chū (first tone, high and level)to take out
- 桑拿sāng (first tone, high and level) ná (second tone, rising)sauna (loanword)