爪

See also 爫, 瓜, 手, and 寸

Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• 爫 – when used as a top radical

Etymology

Pictogram (象形) – a hand grabbing from above (in earlier forms from side); compare 手, 寸, 九.

爪
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Han character

爪 (radical 87 爪+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 竹中人 (HLO), four-corner 7223₀)

1. claw, nail, talon
2. animal feet

References

• KangXi: page 688, character 26
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19653
• Dae Jaweon: page 1101, character 12
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 3, page 2030, character 1
• Unihan data for U+722A

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Cantonese

Hanzi

爪 (jyutping zaau2, Yale jaau2)

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Hakka

Hanzi

爪 (POJ tsáu, Guangdong tsau³ [Meixian], Hagfa Pinyim zau3)

References

• CCDICT (Chineselanguage.org)
• Academia Sinica - Hakka-English Dictionary
• Lau, Chun-fat. Hakka Pinyin Dictionary (Chinese). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1997 (Chinese IME supplement) ISBN 962-201-750-9.

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Japanese

Noun

爪 (hiragana つめ, romaji tsume)

1. a nail; a claw

Kanji

爪

1. nail, claw

Readings

• On: そう (sō)
• Kun: つめ (tsume)

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Khitan

Numeral

爪 (jau)

1. hundred (1,000)

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Korean

Hanja

爪 (hangeul 조, revised jo, McCune-Reischauer cho, Yale co)

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Mandarin

Hanzi

爪 (pinyin zhuǎ (zhua3), Wade-Giles chua³)

Compounds

• 爪子
• 凤爪 (鳳爪)

Usage notes

When used as a single syllable, often pronounced with rhotacization (r ending).

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Vietnamese

Han character

爪 (trảo, trẩu, vuốt, trảu)