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

---

Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		爪

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zhuǎ (zhua³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄓㄨㄚˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zaau²
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): tsáu
• Min Nan (POJ): jiáu / niáu

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: zhuǎ
    • Zhuyin: ㄓㄨㄚˇ
    • Wade-Giles: chua³
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: joa
    • IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂu̯a̠²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: zaau²
    • Yale: jáau
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzaau²
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡sɑːu̯³⁵/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: tsáu
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /tsa̯u³¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: jiáu / niáu
    • Tâi-lô: jiáu / niáu
    • IPA (Taipei): /d͡ʑiaʊ⁴¹/, /niaʊ⁴¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /d͡ʑiaʊ⁵³/, /niaʊ⁵³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (爪, reconstructed)
Character (爪), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 莊 (18) Final: 肴 Division: II			Openness: Open Tone: Rising (X)			Fanqie: 側絞切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡ʃɣauX/	/ʈ͡ʂauX/	/t͡ʃauX/	/ʈ͡ʂɯauX/	/ʈ͡ʂaɨwX/	/t͡ʃauX/	/t͡ʃauX/

Old Chinese pronunciation (爪, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
爪								zhǎo								‹ tsræwX ›								/*[ts]ˤ<r>uʔ/								claw
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
爪					17658					爪					幽					1					爪					/*ʔsruːʔ/

Compounds

• 爪子
• 凤爪 (鳳爪)

Usage notes

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

References

• Taiwan Min Nan Common Words Dictionary (臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典)

---

Japanese

Kanji

爪

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. nail, claw

Readings

• On: そう (sō)
• Kun: つめ (tsume), つま (tsuma)

Noun

爪 (hiragana つめ, romaji tsume)

1. a nail; a claw

Derived terms

• 鷹の爪 (たかのつめ, taka no tsume)

---

Khitan

Numeral

爪 (jau)

1. hundred (100)

---

Korean

Hanja

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

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

---

Vietnamese

Han character

爪 (trảo, trẩu, vuốt, trảu)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.